The Job
by JoselynRae
Summary: A retelling of "The Legion" with a different ending. As an old dear friend struggles with his personal life after retirement, McCall realizes that her own life is just as empty. After a life threatening event she confronts her biggest obstacle to her happiness.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I in no way own the rights to or intend any infringement on the rights to "Hunter." Much of the dialogue herein was copied from the "The Legion" script and the episode as it aired.

**The Job** - A retelling of "The Legion"

Chapter 1

DAY 1

Frank Lassiter stands in front of a mirror bare from the waist up combing his hair. He is tall with close cropped blond hair and ice cold cruel eyes. His well-developed upper body is covered with tattoos of skulls and swastikas conjuring up images of death and racism. He dresses himself in the neatly starched blue prison shirt and follows a guard out of his cell. As he walks down the cellblock toward the yard, the waters part for him and the entourage following behind. He commands fear, even among the guards. One of his followers creates a ruckus, giving Lassiter the perfect opportunity to stab an African-American prison guard in the stomach.

DAY 2

It is a non-descript Tuesday morning, which finds Hunter and McCall catching up on paperwork and finally cleaning off their desks. McCall is filing away what had to be twenty-something files that had been piling up on her desk over the past month. The file room smells like dust and old sneakers, and she is trying very hard to not think about how many other people have touched these file folders before her. She can just picture some old timer, who should have retired five years earlier, eating a greasy roast beef sandwich between wiping his nose and checking the inside of his earlobe for wax while flipping through file after file trying to profile a serial mugger. She makes a note to stop by the ladies room to wash her hands when she finishes.

The past few months have been a never ending assortment of routine suicides and drug overdoses, with a few head-scratchers mixed in. She and Hunter are both overworked, stressed and maybe a little tired of each other. Even married couples would have started getting on each other's nerves after being together for seventy hours a week.

Walking back to her desk, she cannot believe who she sees chatting up Hunter. "Andy?!"

The man looks up and smiles broadly. He rushes over to McCall, saying "Here's looking at you kid" before hugging her so tightly he lifts her off her feet. Andy Polanski was McCall's training officer after she graduated from the academy and very much a father-figure in her life, until he retired three years ago and moved to Seattle. They continued to keep in touch regularly, which make his sudden appearance at her desk all the more surreal.

"How long you in town for?" McCall asks, her face beaming.

"Actually, I'm here to stay." Andy replies.

"You're kidding," McCall is noticeably surprised. "What about your daughter and those terrific grandkids you always brag about?"

"They're still terrific. I just got a job offer I couldn't refuse. Get this – chief of security at a classy computer firm in the valley." Seeing McCall's eyes widen in disbelief, Andy adds, "Not bad for an old retired street cop."

"That's just great," she is all smiles as she turns to Hunter. "You see, there's still hope for us." She is so enthralled with Andy's presence that she does not notice Hunter's mocking expression.

"Come on, let's have lunch. We got a lot of catching up to do."

McCall turns to Hunter again to see if he has any objections. "Go ahead," Hunter says holding up a stack of files, "I've got my own catching up to do, too."

Andy and McCall have barely made their way out of Parker Center when she hears Hunter calling her name. They both turn to see Hunter running up behind them.

"Sorry to break up your reunion, but we've got a bad one down on Hope Street," Hunter says addressing McCall.

"What's going on?" Andy asks.

Turning his attention from McCall to Andy, "You're retired, remember." He places has hand in the small of McCall's back in a gesture to hurry her to his car. "Come on, I'll fill you in on the way."

His intention to rush her along does not go unnoticed, but she regretfully looks at Andy trying to find a way to apologize for skipping out on their lunch.

Luckily he just smiles and reassures her, "I know the drill. We can get together later."

"Where can I reach you?"

"I took a little place in West Hollywood. I'll leave the address and phone number for you at the desk."

Hunter has already started to walk off, so she starts to catch up with him, but then runs back over to Andy to give him a hug. "It's so good to see you. You're still my favorite old blind bear." Hunter makes an exaggerated gesture of checking his watch.

She's clearly irritated by the annoyed look Hunter gives her when she does finally catch up to him. "What, you can't wait five seconds?"

"It's this thing called our job." Hunter snaps back at her.

"I've given this job my entire life recently, it can at least let me have lunch occasionally." She's starting to whine, which just makes Hunter more annoyed.

"Not today. Today we have two dead Sheriff's deputies and an escaped Aryan mastermind with a long bloody rap sheet."

The drive to the crime scene is quiet and tense. Hunter is feeling guilty for being so short with her earlier. He knows how much McCall looks up to Andy, and he has not seen her smile the way she did when she saw him in a long time. She is being abnormally quiet and he starts to worry that she is upset with him. Berating himself for his selfishness, he decides to try to make amends. "You're pretty quiet."

"I was just thinking about Andy." He was expecting her to either ignore him completely or lash into him for being unnecessarily gruff. Seeing the confused look on his face, she continues, "I'm really surprised he's down here. In his letters, he said life in Seattle was great."

"It's hard to turn down a good job."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"What was that about him still being the old, brown bear?"

She laughs, "Old BLIND bear. After I graduated from the academy Andy was my T.O. He taught me the street. At first, I thought he was just this over-the-hill cop. One day, he just sat me down and set me straight. He said, 'Listen, kiddo. Just think of me as the old blind bear. I'm alone in the woods with only the smell of my foul breath for comfort. I'm too mean to die, I too old to care. But show some concern cause I'm still the bear.'"

Amused, Hunter asks, "And was he?"

"He was the best damn street cop I ever knew." Hunter looks over at her with raised eyebrows. "Present company excluded, of course."

He laughs again, "Yes, I'm glad you qualified that." McCall giggles.

They arrive at the crime scene to find a flurry of activity and the bodies already bagged and being loaded into the ambulances. The Correctional Unit van, which had been transporting Frank Lassiter to an arraignment hearing, is riddled with bullet holes. Lassiter was serving a life sentence for robbery homicide, thanks to Hunter's arrest five years ago. At the time he was the leader of an Aryan militant group calling themselves The Legion. His killing of the prison guard yesterday now appears to have been part of an escape plan.

After interviewing witnesses, mostly in vain with no reliable descriptions, Hunter and McCall make a trip to Fenwick Prison to question the wardens about Lassiter. The rest of the day is business as usual for two homicide detectives with a fresh case. It was a late night for McCall, but she managed to arrange a breakfast date with Andy the next morning. Lunch plans were always sketchy in her line of work, you just never know what is going come up during the day that cannot be delayed, but as long as she made it into the precinct by nine o'clock breakfast was a pretty sure bet.

DAY 3

It was a beautiful sunny morning, so Andy and McCall choose a table on the café's patio. The conversation is mostly sharing old stories and laughing about McCall's rookie years. He reminds her of a particularly embarrassing situation, making her blush, and he asks if she has ever told Hunter that story.

"So this Hunter's a pretty good partner, huh?" Andy asks her.

"The best. He's almost like a brother." That's not entirely true, she thinks, but she cannot figure out any other way to describe it to Andy. While their relationship is certainly platonic, their feelings for each other are most certainly not fraternal.

"That's how it should be," Andy replies with a satisfaction of a father knowing his daughter is taken care of well.

_Yes, that is how it SHOULD be. _McCall urgently wants to change the subject. For some reason talking about Hunter has suddenly made her feel anxious and almost emotional. She tells herself it is just a lack of sleep and steers the conversation to Andy's new job. After he tells her a little bit more about his Chief of Security detail, he starts asking McCall about the case that pulled her away from their lunch yesterday. He offers to help out, but she tells him no thanks as politely as she can before having to rush off for a briefing.

DAY 4

"There's nothing wrong with being a security guard. It's a respectable job." Hunter says as he and McCall are walking down the hall towards their desks. It is another early morning for them and Hunter is still trying to get his tie straight.

"That isn't the point."

"Then what is?"

McCall had gone to see Andy the night before with a housewarming present. She had hoped to hear about his first day at his new job. Instead, as she drove up to his apartment she saw him getting into his car carrying a lunch pail and wearing a security guard uniform. _The point is he lied to me, is still lying to me._ "The man's always been straight with me. He always has. It just doesn't add up. He's always talking about how great his life is up there with his daughter and his grandkids. Why would he leave all that to come back down here?"

"Better talk to him about it." Hunter says.

As if on cue they hear Andy call out "Dee Dee." They both jump like they have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar and see Andy sitting at McCall's desk.

"Hey, Andy, what are you doing here?" McCall asks, a bit weary.

"I'm the boss, right? I took the day off." Andy answers. Hunter and McCall look at each other sharing the knowledge of his lie. "I was unpacking my files and I located the name of a perp who used to run with the Aryans."

"Who's that?" Hunter asks.

"A punk named Dennis Sweeney. When he isn't doing armed robbery, he's selling cars. Here's his picture."

"Does he have any tattoos?" Hunter asks.

"I don't remember him having any."

Getting annoyed with Andy wasting his time, Hunter responds, "Well, these guys like tattoos, Andy."

"Well, if it was up to me I'd check it out."

"We have an awful lot of things to check out." Hunter responds. McCall gives him a look pleading with him to just play nice. _Jeez, Hunter, can't you just humor the old man?_

"Couldn't hurt." Andy says. McCall can see that Andy's feelings are hurt that Hunter is not taking him seriously.

"Yeah, well, I will just put it on the pile of stuff to look at. Excuse me." Hunter walks off, determined to end the conversation. McCall stares at his back a moment. _Oh, come off it, Hunter. What's wrong with you?_

McCall turns back to Andy, seeing that he is also watching Hunter walking away. She feels sympathetic at the look of hurt on his face. Trying to soothe things over, "Andy, could we get together later?"

"Uh, yeah sure. I have some things to do. I'll give you a call." Andy walks away in frustration.

While Hunter is discussing the case with Charlie, McCall decides to check out this Dennis Sweeney guy anyway. Like Andy said, it could not hurt. Turns out this guy might be a lead after all, and McCall gets a little payback by dragging Hunter out to the used car dealership in the Valley where Sweeney works.

When they arrive at the dealership, they find Andy already there and Sweeney peeling out of the lot. Sweeney is firing wild shots in the direction of Hunter's car, while Andy is waving his own gun trying to chase after him. It was a tense drive back to Parker Center, with Andy sitting in the back of Hunter's car feeling embarrassed about ruining the lead, McCall upset with Andy for interfering, and Hunter angry at both of them. Once Hunter and McCall are inside Charlie's office and able to speak to each other without Andy hearing, the arguing begins.

"You should have told him to butt out this morning. He's ruining my case!" Hunter is fuming.

"'My case?' Last I checked it was my case, too!"

"Well, I thought we were partners, but you're not exactly acting like my partner at the moment!"

"What does that mean?! I thought we were also friends, but you're not exactly acting like a friend."

"Ever since he's been back in town he's been trying to weasel his way into this case and you've let him. He's out of control."

"I know he was wrong, he just didn't think you were taking him seriously."

"And that gives him the right to come out of retirement? What's this guy want me to do, give him a reward?"

"What do you want to do, lock him up?" Charlie's phone rings, but Hunter and McCall are too upset to notice.

"The guy blew our only lead."

"And it's a lead we wouldn't have if it hadn't been for him!" McCall screams a bit too loudly.

Charlie interrupts, "Will you two back off just a second?"

McCall continues, but quietly this time, "We don't even know for sure Sweeney could have led us to Lassiter, do we?"

Charlie hangs up the phone and answers McCall's question before Hunter can reply, "We do now. That was ballistics. The bullets from Sweeney's gun match the rounds removed from one of the deputy's bodies."

McCall's bluster fades as she realizes defeat.

"There's no point to keeping Polanski here. Send him home." Charlie tells them.

McCall walks out of Charlie's office to talk to Andy, who is sitting at her desk awaiting his fate. He could hear Hunter and McCall arguing from the other side of Charlie's door and knew that he had not only ruined his reputation but that he was also causing a rift between McCall and her partner. He jumps to his feet when he sees her walking toward him.

"Andy, we have to talk." McCall says in the calmest voice she is able to muster.

"Sure, kiddo. I'm really sorry about what happened. It was a dumb move." Andy replies quickly, trying to admit his mistake before she can reprimand him.

Hunter walks up behind McCall, still visibly upset, and cuts in, "That's an understatement for you."

McCall tries to ignore this by refusing to look at him and continuing her focus on Andy. She needs to deal with Andy alone.

Andy continues as if he had not heard Hunter either, "Listen, guys, lemme make it up to you. I've still got contacts out there. Let me hit the streets and see what I come up with."

"You don't get it do you, Andy? You don't seem to leave well enough alone." Hunter explodes.

"Now you listen Hunter, I was working the streets while you were still in knee pants. Now, when a good cop offers to help you, you damn well better take it."

"But you aren't a cop anymore, Andy. You're a security guard." McCall jerks at Hunter's outburst. He went for the jugular. Hunter ducks his head, knowing he went too far.

Turning back to Andy, McCall gently tries to explain, "I saw you going to work last night." She sees a look of misery come across his face before he turns and walks off toward the elevators. McCall gives Hunter one last look before heading off to catch Andy. _I will deal with you later, _her look told him. And he knew that she would.

McCall catches up to Andy at the elevator, "Andy, what's goin' on with you?"

"Nothing."

"Nothin'? Come on, there has to be. That's why you came down here to LA, isn't it?" She rubs his arm, an effort to calm them both. "Come on, let's talk. I'm your friend, let's go talk." Right at that moment the elevator opens and a group of young uniform officers stumble out, laughing and joking with each other. It was exactly what Andy had missed those years in Seattle, the sense of being a part of something, the comradery.

Once they made their way out of the building, Andy confesses, "When I retired and moved to Seattle, I thought it'd be great. I'd be with my daughter and her kids. They're really good kids."

"In your letters, you said that you were having a terrific time." McCall says.

"I said a lot of things, Dee Dee. My daughter didn't want me there."

"What? What do you mean? I can't believe that."

"Look, I don't blame her. She's never been able to forgive me."

"Andy, forgive you for what?" She says, confused.

It takes Andy a minute to compose himself before he can continue, "I don't have to tell you what a cop's personal life is like. The job destroys it. First, it cost me my marriage. Then my kids, when my wife moved to Seattle. I really tried to stay in touch, but you know how it is. Now my daughter hardly knows me."

"Then why did you go back initially?"

"I thought I could make it up to her, make it right with us." He pauses, then looks at her, "Do you have any idea what it's like to live with people you hope will love you, and you realize you're just being tolerated?" She shake her head, feeling pain for him. "I always felt I was alone there. So I came back. I was never alone here. I had the force, other cops." He looks at her again, affectionately this time, "I had you."

She looks back at him with compassion, "Andy, you still have me."

"I know that." Changing the subject, "Well, I gotta go to work."

"Are you going to be ok?"

"I'll be fine." He manages a smile, "Still the old blind bear, right?"

She nods her head sympathetically, "Yeah."

As Andy walks away, McCall feels the weight of his words. _The job destroys your personal life. _The job does not just destroy your personal life it consumes it, she thinks to herself. Her feelings and emotions are such a tangled web of clutter that she cannot even think clearly. There was a time when she knew what she wanted and she assumed it would happen. She wanted to get married again and have a family, but until then she was perfectly happy working as a homicide detective. Somewhere along the way, her dream started fading away into obscurity and she became less and less fulfilled by chasing down murderers.

As recently as a year ago, her dream seemed to be coming true. Her relationship with Jason Leffler was getting serious and she was sure he was the 'one.' Their sudden break up had been difficult to swallow. Not only was it public, a detective dating a Deputy DA was major gossip in their professional circle, but it brought about a quandary she had hoped she would never have to face. During the final stages of her relationship with Jason, and ultimately what led to the end, she had had to choose between him and Hunter. It was work related, of course, but both men felt the choice personally. Professionally she had had to side with Hunter, but it also made her question if she would always side with Hunter, no matter what the situation. She was worried that she would always choose Hunter.

He was the one person she could trust above all else. The one person she could call and he would be there immediately, no questions asked. He had fought for her, lied for her, killed for her, cared for her, cried for her. He knew all her baggage, seen her at her worst, helped her be her best and yet he still showed up every day for more. He was the reason she could never leave homicide, but he had also become part of the problem.

After her breakup with Jason, she had thrown herself into her work. She assumed it would only be for a short time, just until she could remember how to be alone again. But a year later, she was still working a schedule that would burn out even the most dedicated workaholics. She had gone on maybe two dates during that time. After each of the dates she had decided that she would have had more fun eating pizza with Hunter at their desks, and therefore there had not been a second date with either man.

But her relationship with Hunter was not all roses, either. If she was obsessed with work, he was even worse. But where in the past they had worked cases together, sometimes spending days on end together and never working alone, recent years had seen them working almost entirely autonomously. Part of the blame was budgetary, occasionally being forced to take separate cases. Part of it was a conscience decision to put some space between them. And while that decision seemed necessary at one time for their survival as partners and friends, she desperately missed the closeness they had once shared. This was something, too, that she had thought was a temporary solution and that things would slowly return to normal. But Hunter seemed content with the arrangement. Perhaps this hurt her more than she wanted to admit.

Hunter had certainly been harsh on Andy, without any concern for her. She never expected him to tread lightly, that just was not his nature, but he had never thrown her under the bus before. Revealing to Andy that they knew he had lied about his new job as a security guard infuriated her. That was not his place.

McCall made her way back to her desk, thankful to see Hunter's seat empty. Her original intention had been to tell Hunter what she thought of his outburst, but all the fight had drained out of her. She found a note on her desk instructing her to go over Lassiter's background information again and begin pulling information on his brother, Rudy. This note also meant that Hunter was not expecting to be back at his desk for a while, much to her relief.

The rest of the day was busy and long. The pounding in her head, that had begun after her heart to heart conversation with Andy earlier that day, was getting worse with each passing hour. The sadness she felt for Andy, and her own feelings of loneliness that were bubbling up, had clouded her mood the rest of the day. Her head is really not into her work, but going home to her empty house seems like torture. Perhaps if she stays just a little bit longer, she can just fall into her bed and put this day behind her.

The late shift was a skeleton crew in the Homicide squad room, creating a quiet and dark atmosphere. Usually she liked this time of day. When the constant buzz and chatter of the day falls away and the room contains just a few tired souls, conversations get real. It is like you fell a closeness with whoever else remains. Pretenses go away. The tough, guy's club mentality fades as its carriers lose the strength to maintain the facade. It was during one of these late nights that Charlie first acknowledged his fondness for her, and the beginnings of their mentor/friend rapport. How many nights had she and Hunter shared at their desks? Working, chatting, sharing food, pestering each other by flicking paperclips or shooting rubber bands at each other – letting their professional guard down when only a handful of people were around to witness how truly comfortable they are with each other. Tonight, however, the quiet only elevated her melancholy.

Her suspicion that Hunter would be away from his desk proved to be truth. He had come and go, but never actually sat down at his desk for more than a few minutes. When he was called to a convenience store clerk killing with an Aryan tinge a few hours ago she assumed he would go straight home afterward. She was organizing her desk and clearing out files getting ready to call it quits when he came striding over to their desks.

Hunter sees McCall standing there and starts talking about the case before he reaches her, "I ran a backgrounder on Dennis Sweeney. Turns out he's from Texas. I'm having him checked out."

"Fine." McCall's perfunctory reply quickly tells Hunter that she is most definitely not "fine."

Trying to appeal to what he knows is on her mind, he asks, "How's Andy doing?"

"I don't really want to talk about it." Walking away from him, she stops and says, "Don't you ever go home?" before continuing on to wherever she was heading, which just happens to be wherever he is not.

He is taken aback by her tone. She is so rarely upset with him, and her usual way of dealing with it when she is upset is by telling him about it. He does not know what to do with her silence. But, right now, he has a whole host of paperwork to get done. So he sits down and gets started. He is knee deep in reports by the time she returns to her desk. He watches as she picks up the pens and paperclips off her desk and neatly places them back in her top drawer, and is oddly comforted by this small ritual she performs every day. _At least her obsessive neatness is still intact_, he thinks to himself. As she is picking up her purse to leave, he realizes that she still has not looked up at him, despite his obvious staring. He cannot decide if he wants to try to talk to her again, or if he just needs to keep his mouth shut. At the last moment, he turns around as she walks past him, "Dee Dee…" She keeps walking to the elevator without looking back.

Day 5

McCall arrives at the squad room way too early in the morning in her opinion. Coffee, lots and lots of coffee were going to be needed to get through the day. She barely slept at all, rehashing Andy's words and contemplating all of life's big questions. Namely, her life. Was she the person she wanted to be? Was she happy with her life? No and no.

Luckily, the day was so busy she hardly had time to remember that she was tired. She also saw very little of Hunter. They had one brief rendezvous at their desks. It was nearing 1:30pm and she realized that she had not eaten yet that day, unless two bites of a stale donut counts. Not being on speaking terms with Hunter was a lonely place to be, even if she was upset with him. Everyone has that one person that they share everything with. A best friend or a spouse that you call when you read a funny story in the newspaper. The person with whom you have a unending number of inside jokes, and every time something reminds you of one of them you just have to drop everything and go tell them about it. The person that does not even blink when you show up at their front door at midnight because you had a fight with your mom. For McCall, that person is Hunter. She decides it is time to break the silence.

"Hey, want to go get some lunch? I haven't had a chance to eat yet, and I assuming you haven't either?" She is trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, letting him know that this is not a trap. She is more or less waving a white a flag.

"Thanks, but I gotta get over to the morgue to pick up those autopsy reports." He replies without even looking up from the computer printout he is reading. She nods once in recognition of his reply. They really were too busy to be having lunch out. But there was a time when he would have picked up on her need to talk to him. When just the tone of her voice or a look on her face would be all he needed to understand that she needed him. She walks off toward the restroom, not taking any chances of him seeing the tears threatening to well up in her eyes.

Late that evening, McCall is finally putting her tired body and pounding headache to bed. Despite her fatigue, she is tossing and turning when her phone rings. She manages a frustrated and hoarse 'ello' as she picks up the phone.

"Hi, Dee Dee." It is Hunter and he is using her first name for the second time in two days. This is not official police business. Her sigh is almost a groan as she sits up to brace for the upcoming conversation.

"Rick, look, can we just…"

He cuts her off before she can say anymore, he is not calling to talk about them. "Dee Dee, Andy is in lockup."

"What?"

He takes a bracing breath before continuing, "I arrested Andy." She sits in silence as a million different questions flash through her mind, so he continues, "for shooting Dennis Sweeney."

"Wait, I don't understand." Nothing Hunter is telling her is making any sense. "You're going to have to start at the beginning for me."

"That backgrounder on Sweeney – turns out he's Rita Lassiter's half-brother. So I went to her house to question her again, but Andy was already there and Sweeney was dead." Rita Lassiter was Frank Lassiter's ex-wife and McCall had interviewed her two days ago.

"I…I…," again, words fail her.

"I'm sorry," Hunter says, and she knows he is. All arguments and frustrations aside, she recognizes that this is a difficult phone call for him to make. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm ok. I'm on my way there."

"Why? There's nothing you can do tonight."

"Rick, sometimes you just don't get it." She says with an air of frustration.

"Don't get what? That Andy screwed up our case again? Or that you're too busy feeling sorry for the guy to see what is really going on?"

"And what exactly is going on?"

"He's using you to relive his glory days, and you're letting him."

"Good night, Rick." Anger boils up inside her so strong that she hangs up before she says something to permanently destroy their relationship.

She lies awake in bed for hours, watching the ceiling fan whirl above her, but she does not sleep.

Day 6

After posting Andy's bail the next morning, she is able to talk with him a few minutes as he is being released from lockup. The man she finds picking up his possessions is a shadow of the police officer she had admired and revered. He was once a strong, respectable cop, but now he will not even look her in the eyes as he thanks her for bailing him out. She tries to be sympathetic, tries to say things to make him feel better although her attempts sound feeble even to herself. He has committed murder, there is no good way out of this situation. When he tells her, "Dee Dee, don't end up like me," she feels it all the way down to the pit of her stomach.

McCall immediately heads for Charlie's office, wanting to find out what the DA's office is planning in regards to Andy's case. The last person she is wanting to see is Hunter, but unfortunately he's in there talking to Charlie already. She readies herself and marches in.

"Charlie, what's going to happen to Andy Polanski?"

"There'll be a preliminary hearing. I don't think the D.A.'s office will go hard on him." Charlie answers sympathetically.

Hunter cuts in, "I'm sorry, Dee Dee."

She still does not want to talk to him. Without looking at him she says, "Yeah, so am I. For a lot of things." And she walks out the door.

It is several hours before she sees Hunter again. He steers clear of their desk, giving her space, while she broods in her chair dredging her way through paperwork. She is worried about Andy, and goes back and forth in her mind between wanting to check on him and giving him space. Deciding she wants to check on him after all, she reaches for the phone.

"Hey, McCall. I've got a big time lead, let's go." Hunter yells across the squad room just as McCall starts dialing Andy's number.

"Just let me call Andy, I'm worried about him." McCall says to Hunter, who has almost made it to their desk in three long strides.

"The victim at the convenience store was an armored car driver. Forget about Andy," he snaps in frustration. "Move it! We've got a job to do!" McCall, annoyed at the way Hunter just spoke to her, puts the phone down anyway and runs after him. She catches up to him as he is holding the elevator door open for her, but refuses to look at him the whole way to the car.

Hunter's hunch that Lassiter's plan is to rob an armored car ends with them in a shootout with Lassiter's brother, Rudy, as Lassiter himself drives off with a stolen five million dollars. Hunter shoots Rudy, hitting his shoulder. Hunter and McCall follow the ambulance to the hospital in hopes of talking to Rudy as soon as possible.

"If we had been two minutes later to the robbery we wouldn't have Rudy in custody." Hunter says, still frustrated with McCall's obsession with Andy.

"Yeah, I got it." McCall says through clenched teeth.

"Hey, why are you mad at _me_? All I'm trying to do is my job, which is to put away murderers and save lives."

"Oh, yes, your excuse for everything – you are such the superhero. You go out on the streets and protect random strangers from the monsters of society. But when it comes to protecting and caring for the people you actually know, well then you don't have time for that."

"Wait a minute! Where the hell is this coming from?" He yells at her as he pulls into the hospital parking lot. "That's completely unfair! Especially coming from you." Her head darts in his direction, her eyes like daggers.

"Wouldn't I be the one to know?" She spats as she jumps out of the car and walks into the ER, leaving Hunter still behind the wheel trying to decipher her accusation.

Rudy Lassiter's injuries are severe and he is taken into surgery right away. Hunter and McCall decide to wait, still hoping to be able to talk to Rudy before the day is over. The sooner they get him to talk the sooner they can go after his brother and the stolen money.

Both of them are frustrated and unable to stay seated in the waiting room. Hunter has stationed himself in the hallway, leaning against the wall and checking his watch every thirty seconds. McCall cannot seem to stand still, pacing back and forth in front the double doors leading to the operating rooms. She is impatiently waiting for a couple of uniform officers to relieve them as Rudy's custodians so that she can try calling Andy again. The one thing both Hunter and McCall can count on is that they will both remain strictly professional in public. So whatever anger is smoldering within them, it will not explode there in the hospital, but to maintain that unspoken covenant they seem to be unable to say anything at all.

McCall silently berates herself for being so harsh on Hunter. Her anger towards him seems to be escalating and she is not even sure where is it coming from. She does know that she is dreadfully worried about Andy and is on pins and needles to make sure he is okay. She stops her pacing suddenly when she realizes that Hunter is only two feet from her watching her pace. Taking a deep breath and swallowing her pride, she closes her eyes and attempts an apology that she only half-heartedly feels. "Look, I'm sorry for what I said in the car."

"I know you are worried about Andy, but he's a big boy."

"He killed a man last night, Rick." McCall's voice is thick with emotion.

"Yeah, I know." Hunter says, looking down at his feet. He looks up at her, head still bent, and she knows exactly the words he left unsaid – _I probably just killed a man, too._

"The violence, you and I are used to it and it's still hard to deal with." She says, looking past him, her hands busy peeling off her nail polish. It is a nervous habit that she will regret later. "Most cops go their entire careers without ever harming another human being, much less accidentally shooting and killing someone. With everything he has been going through recently, and now this," she pauses and sighs, "I just feel like I'm the only one there for him and that he's probably needing me."

Hunter is silent so long that she is not sure he is going to reply. Eventually, he carefully says, "You have a very important job with more than just Andy depending on you to do it." She refuses to look at him, but he continues anyway, "And it's a job you are very good at." All she can think is that it's a job she is not particularly fond of at the moment. She wishes she was just about anywhere other than a hospital hoping that a dangerous, psychopathic, white supremacist lives through surgery so that she can find even more dangerous, psychopathic, white supremacists. "Look, there's our relief." He says as he sees a couple of officers heading their way. "Go call him."

McCall finds a payphone and dials Andy's number, but it just keeps ringing. Knowing that Rudy's surgery may last several hours, she calls dispatch and asks for someone to come pick her up and take her back to Parker Center so that she can get her car. Her plan is to go check on Andy, talk to him for a while, then pick up some food for Hunter, Charlie and herself. It is going to be a late night, and maybe she can make a peace-offering with hamburgers and fries. On the way to Parker Center, however, she hears an emergency call to Andy's address over the radio.

The red and blue lights cut through the darkness, highlighting the crowd of emergency personnel and curious neighbors in alternating pulses. McCall pushes her way through the people, not even bothering to pull out her badge as she ducks under the crime scene tape. Running now, she practically bursts into Andy's apartment, and then she sees it. The front wall of his living room painted in shades of red of pink, the lifeless body slumped over in a chair, blood dripping off his fingertips onto the weapon. Grief overtakes her, and in that moment she is not sure if she sees Andy or herself.

By the time she returns to Parker Center she fells completely empty. She had wept openly in the middle of Andy's living room, the usual tough appearance she presents in front of other cops completely gone. She did not even notice the flurry of people around her. Now, she finds herself walking out of the elevator toward her desk merely out of habit than any actual reason to be going to her desk at nine o'clock at night. She does not see Hunter as she walks past him, but it vaguely registers that she hears his voice.

"Andy killed himself tonight." She says, her voice distant and stoic, and she stands in front of her desk unsure what to do now.

"Dee Dee, I'm so sorry." Hunter says softly as he walks up behind her. _I'm so sorry _repeats over and over in her head.

McCall turns to him, seeing him for the first time, "You know, all he had in his life was a job. His family didn't care about him. All he had was being a cop, and when that was over, he had nothing."

"He had you," Hunter says gently.

She shakes her head, "No, not really." It begins to hit her that she could have prevented his suicide. That instinct she had all day of needing to talk to him was telling her that Andy needed her. Her words just an hour ago to Hunter ring in her ears _I just feel like I'm the only one there for him and that he's probably needing me_. He had needed her and she was not there for him. And the reason she was not there for him – this job. This job killed him in more ways than one.

"When I left here today, I knew something was terribly wrong with him. I went to call him, but you stopped me. Do you remember what you said to me? You said 'you have a job to do.'"

"That's right." Hunter says, beginning to worry about her.

"All I have in this life is this job!" McCall explodes at Hunter. With trembling fingers she awkwardly removes her badge and her gun from her purse and drops them onto her desk. The thud they make causes Hunter to jump. "I'm not going to end up like Andy. This job can go to hell!" She walks around a stunned Hunter back to the elevator.

"Wait! Dee Dee wait!" McCall hears Hunter calling after her in the parking lot. She does not stop. He reaches her just as she is unlocking her car door and grabs her arm to turn her toward him. She tries to jerk her arm out of his grasp, but his hold it too tight.

"Just leave me alone." She says between tears.

"Will you just talk to me? What are you doing?"

"Something I should have done a long time ago." This time when she pulls her arm away he lets go.

"You don't mean that. Look, you're just upset. Let's go talk."

"No! Don't you see? It's not just tonight. It's not just finding Andy dead in his own living room. This has been coming for a long time. This is my life and I can't take it anymore!" She is yelling at him in a nearly hysterical rage.

"Ok, ok," he says carefully trying to calm her down. "At least let me drive you home."

"I'm fine." She responds defensively.

"No, you're not. I'm not going to let you drive home like this." He grabs her hand holding the keys and she allows him to take them from her. Now that the fight is starting to dissipate, he very tentatively puts his arms around her and hugs her. She remains rigid at first, but the familiarity of his embrace weakens her resolve and she buries her face in his chest and grabs fistfuls of his shirt. He has always brought her comfort before, and she lets him now. Even through her pain and anger, she allows herself this moment.

He drives her home as he said he would, and walks her to her door where she promises him she will be okay. She can tell he is worried about her, but she cannot help but wonder whether his concern is personal or professional. When she does not invite him inside, he hands her the keys and sits down on the steps along her front walkway to wait for Charlie. Along the way he had radioed to Charlie to come pick him up, and then they were going back to the hospital to check on Rudy Lassiter's condition again. Hunter and McCall were otherwise silent the remainder of the drive.

McCall walks through her dark, lonely house wondering where she took a wrong turn. When had her life become so vacant? She wants to blame it on Steven's death, and maybe that was the beginning. She learned a long time ago, however, that she cannot blame her choices in life on the events that have happened to her. Her rape councilor taught her that. Steven's death brought her loneliness, for sure, but she has to admit that still being alone eight years later is by her own doing.

_To be continued..._

_Thank you for reading! This is my very first FanFic! Suggestions and comments are very welcome, but please be kind. _


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

DAY 7

Sleep finally came hard and fast, and when McCall awoke late the next morning her head felt heavy and foggy. _Did I really quit my job last night? _It was something she had thought about doing a thousand times before. When Steve died she wondered how she could continue doing a job that took her husband. After her rape she wondered how she could ever again be brave and strong enough to be a cop again, and she had those same thoughts again after she was shot in the back. She and Hunter both considered leaving when they were faced with either covering up evidence or arresting a man that murdered his wife's rapist – a situation they were intimately familiar with. But it was always the love of the job, and the bond with her partner, that brought her back. This time, Hunter and her job were one and the same, and she needed a break from both.

She finally pulls herself out of bed and into a long hot shower. She cannot live too long without a paycheck, but today she needs to take care of her soul. After dressing and making herself a cup of coffee, she pulls out her photo albums. The feeling that she has lost herself somewhere along the way will not leave her alone. She hopes that remembering the good times might also remind her of the person she was, the person she liked once upon a time.

A knocking at the door brings her back to the present, and she is shocked to see Hunter standing in the doorway. She opens the door unsure what to say or why he is there. She does not entirely remember everything she said to him last night, but suspects it might not have been nice.

"Hi," He says, taking a glance over her shoulder into her living room as if he wants to make sure she is alone. There was a time when he was as comfortable at her home as he was his own, but he had only been in this house twice before. She had moved in while she was still dating Jason Leffler, so he had not even been asked to help unlike her previous two moves. "Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"No, I was just going over some things." She replies, nervously saying the first thing that enters her mind, and continues to wait for some sign of his intentions.

"Ok, mind if I come in?"

"No, of course not. Come in"

He steps just inside her door and turns back to McCall, who still has her hand on the doorknob. "I thought I'd take you to lunch."

"Lunch? When's the last time you took a break out for lunch?"

"It has been some time, hasn't it? Maybe that's part of the problem." He says. She appreciates the effort, but one lunch is not going to solve their problems. McCall had spent the morning telling herself that she did not need Hunter. More specifically, she was trying to convince herself that she needed to move on with her life apart from him. He is not her answer and she is never going to find happiness chasing him around the back alleys of LA.

"I know what you want to talk about and I'm not going to change my mind."

"Look, we've been partners for over five years. We've been through a lot of hell, I think I'm entitled to a conversation."

She has to admit that he has a point, even if she is not ready to have that kind of conversation. She agrees to lunch, but as they are getting ready to leave Charlie calls. Rudy Lassiter is conscious and Charlie needs Hunter to meet him at the hospital ASAP. She can tell by the look on his face that he knows - he knows this is exactly the reason she is giving up. She needs a friend right now, and he cannot be there because of the job.

Late that evening, McCall's living room is shroud in darkness with the exception of one pale ray of light streaking across the floor from the streetlamp outside. The silence suits her mood as she takes a sip of her tea. Andy's funeral is tomorrow. He was one of the best street cops LA had ever seen and he had spent his life devoted to his badge, but the only thing anybody will remember now is how he ended his own life.

The shrill ring of her phone is deafening as it cuts through the silence. Only one person would be calling her at this time of night. She picks up the phone just before the answering machine turns on.

"Hey, are you still awake." It's Hunter just as she assumed.

"I'm awake." She says softly, realizing that she had been aching to hear his voice since he had left her house hours earlier.

"I, ah, I wanted to find out the details for Andy's funeral tomorrow." He says.

"Westside Chapel, three o'clock."

"Ok, thanks, I'll be there." He says and waits a moment for her to say more. When she does not he continues, "Hey, how are you doing?"

She takes a deep breath before answering him. She does not want to jump right into her list of grievances, but he will know instantly if she is not telling him the whole truth. She decides to attempt brevity, "I'm okay. Really." Trying to convince herself as well as him.

"Today was weird. Without you there." It's these moments, when he completely drops the tough guy act and opens up to her that have solidified their friendship. She is the only person that he allows to see his vulnerabilities.

"I just can't do this anymore." She whispers into the phone, covering her eyes with her free hand.

"Why do I get the feeling this is more than just about being a cop?"

There it is, he is going to make her cut right through the crap and get to the real point. "Because it is."

"So tell me." He says, and her mind starts racing. Where to start? If she knew that she might not be in this mess in the first place. She opens her mouth several times, but nothing comes out. When she does not start talking, he does, "I'm very sorry for what happened to Andy, and I'm sorry for whatever roll you think I played in it. But you cannot blame yourself for his suicide. Whatever led him to that point, it had nothing to do with you. You don't know that you could have prevented it."

"It's not," she stops, trying to choose her words carefully, "it's not just Andy. It's not just what happened yesterday. I think I hit the wall a long time ago, I just didn't want to admit it."

"I don't agree."

"Maybe because you haven't been paying attention."

"Is that what this is? Is all this about me?"

"Our relationship changed a long time ago and I keep hanging on hoping to get back what we lost, but maybe it's time to cut the cord for good."

"Cut the cord?" His anger beginning to flare up. "What the hell are you talking about? You're the one that wanted space, so I gave it to you."

"What do you mean I wanted space?"

"I don't know, but you made it very clear that you wanted distance from me and now you're mad at me for it."

"When? When did I make that clear to you?" She says a bit litter louder than necessary, completely confused how the conversation seems to have turned against her.

"After we spent the night together!"

"Because I came home from Quantico and found you nailing Megan Malone!" McCall blurts out without thinking first.

"What?" He sounds completely taken aback, but now that she has started down this road she cannot seem to stop.

"I knew then that I'd never be more to you than a one-night stand, and so I focused on salvaging what was left of our partnership."

"I never…nothing ever happened…" With her accusations whirling around in his head, he cannot decide which one to tackle first. "I never had any kind of involvement with Megan, and you were distant from the moment you left LA for Quantico – even before I started working with her."

McCall steadies her voice before calmly replying, "So were you."

He takes two deep breaths, then confesses, "I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what I wanted."

"So why didn't you tell me that back then?"

"You never talked about it, so I let you make the decision for me."

She lets out a strained sigh, "The thing is, Rick, that's not what I wanted. And if I had said so back then, when you didn't know what you wanted, I would have ruined everything."

He has to admit the truth, no matter how much it hurts, "you're probably right."

She lets that hang in the air between them for what feel like an eternity. "Right."

"I liked what we had, I just never wanted that to end." He says.

"It ended that night." They were both quiet as they contemplated what that meant. Hunter finally broke the silence.

"Dee Dee?"

"Yeah?"

"I never thought of you as a one-night stand." He pauses, hoping she cannot hear the desperation in his voice, "I don't want to lose you. So what do we do now?"

"I don't know. I don't know what I want anymore, but this isn't it." She is starting to lose the fight against the tears burning her eyes – the last thing she wants is for Hunter to think she is crying over him. "Look, it's late. I'll see you at the funeral tomorrow. Okay?"

"Okay."

She replaces the phone to her nightstand and stares at it until she feels cross-eyed, half hoping that he will call her back.

DAY 8

The bright afternoon sun filters through the stained glass windows creating a halo of light around the chapel's alter. McCall sat a few rows back, near the isle to make it easy for Hunter to locate her when he arrives. Turning to look for him as the ceremony commences, she is disheartened at the small number of attendees. A wonderful man who loved his family and his city has passed, yet so few have shown up to offer their gratitude. If she died right now, is this what her funeral would look like, too? A smattering of family members, a few former co-workers and the one or two close friends remaining in her life?

Hunter finds her as she is making her way out of the chapel. He had been running late and sat in the back. Seeing him is as awkward as she thought it would be, but it means a lot to her that he came nonetheless. The ominous formality of the setting keeps their conversation on the matter at hand.

Their parting was terse. Andy's daughter had approached McCall and Hunter, and Hunter rebuked McCall for being too harsh on her.

"You were pretty cold in there." Hunter scolds her as they walk outside.

"She's not my favorite person in the world."

"Why's that?"

McCall stops and turns face to face with Hunter. "Things Andy said. She was pretty hard on him."

"Maybe she had reasons." McCall gives him a disparaging look. "I said maybe." He defends.

"He wasn't the greatest father, I know that. But after he left the force and went to her, she didn't exactly welcome him with open arms. Maybe if she had…" She pauses and looks up at Hunter before looking down at her feet. "I guess there are a lot of maybes." She risks a glance at his face, but he will not meet her eyes. "Take care of yourself, Rick."

"Kay." It is the only thing Hunter can manage to say as he watches her walk away and into her car. It's the last time he sees her for three days.

X-X-X-X

'Take care of yourself, Rick.' McCall's parting words run through his head on a continuous loop as he drives away from Andy Polanski's funeral. _She isn't really expecting to never speak to me again, is she?_ One thing he knows for sure, she is not getting away that easily. She has been the woman in his life for six years, maybe not in his bed, but definitely in his life. She cannot just decide one day to walk away from him and never look back.

Their conversation the night before had left him confused and frustrated, not to mention sleep deprived. He did not know what he wanted now any more than he had back then, except going back to the way things were is definitely no longer a possibility. Had she really wanted a relationship with him? He had never felt anything from her but regret, and it sounded to him last night that regret was definitely what it was. He had not regretted it, though. Not even when it haunted his dreams and played havoc on his relationships ever since.

He needs to work things out with McCall, but just as he had told her two days ago, he has a job to do. Frank Lassiter is still out there and he needs to focus on that. Once Lassiter is behind bars again, he will have time to turn his attention to getting his partner back, one way or another.

Those two worlds collide when Lassiter decides to make McCall a bargaining chip - McCall in exchange for his brother Rudy. Lassiter's cronies had kidnapped McCall outside of her home sometime during the three hours since she had walked away from him at the funeral. When Lassiter taunts, "…think of all the fun we're having with her," Hunter's stomach drops to the floor. He bangs his phone on his desk, wishing it was Lassiter's head, and immediately rounds up Commander Matthews. There is no time to waste. He feels sick to his stomach wondering what they have already done to her.

"I'm sorry, Sergeant, we can't make a trade." Commander Matthews says in his monotone way.

"It's Department policy, Rick. We knew that going in." Charlie says regretfully.

"I know that, Captain." Hunter laments. He had hoped the Department would do something, anything, to rescue one of its own. McCall may believe that she has quit the force, but he and Charlie had agreed to disregard her emotional outburst. Both were hoping she would change her mind once she had time to process the whole situation. As far as the brass knew she was still a cop. "But what do we do now?"

"Everything we can. This is priority one. Anything you need, you've got it." Says the Commander.

"But it's still up to us to get her out?" says Hunter, getting frustrated.

"I'm afraid that's the way it has to be." Commander Matthews responds.

"I've been trying to track down this maniac for a week and I'm no closer now than I was when I started. I'm running out of leads and in the meantime he is torturing her!" Hunter is beyond frustration to livid. This department has fed McCall to the wolves before and he is not going to allow them to do it again.

"There is no other way."

"She cannot go through this again! She's been raped once, like hell I'm going to let it happen again."

"McCall is strong. She can defend herself." Charlie jumps in, trying to calm Hunter. "And if it comes to that," he pauses to swallow the lump in his throat, "well, let's just focus on finding her alive."

"With all due respect, Captain, you weren't around last time. I was, and I can tell you that neither of us can survive it again." Hunter storms out of the Commander's office, wondering how he is supposed to do his job when all he can think about it McCall.

DAY 9

The next morning Hunter finally has a lead worth checking out – the driver of the armored car had once been a guard at Fenwick Prison and had also used Mike Murdoch, the prison Captain, as a reference. Hunter spends the majority of the day at the prison interviewing Murdoch and other guards trying to find a connection between him and Lassiter.

DAY 10

"This is a list of addresses of all the ex-cons in the Aryan Legion. It covers the whole west coast, including Oregon and Washington. We're checking on them now." Charlie tells Hunter as he shows him the very long list. They are exhausting every possibility since the investigation at the prison yesterday turned up very little new information.

"That could take forever, Captain!"

"Well, it's all we got."

"It's not enough." Hunter roars. Too much coffee, not enough food, three nights in a row of little to no sleep and the possibility that McCall will be killed before he can find her is more than he can handle.

"Look, relax. We're gonna get her back. We'll find her."

"You know, if McCall were here she'd have an idea and that idea would give me an idea and then pretty soon we'd have the whole thing solved."

"Well, that's how it is with partners."

"There were times when just a look in her eyes would say everything. No conversation – nothing. Just a look. We were that good."

Charlie's phone rings, with Frank Lassiter on the other end. Lassiter is making demands again for his brother and threatening to kill McCall if Hunter does not abide. Hunter agrees to exchange Rudy for McCall, defiantly eyeing Charlie as he does.

"What does that mean?" Charlie spurts out the moment Hunter hangs up the phone.

"We've run out of time, Charlie."

"I can't authorize this, Rick!" Charlie's face turns red in anger.

"I don't expect you to." Hunter says calmly and determinedly.

"You're going to lose your badge."

"I'm going to lose McCall." And he turns to walk out of Charlie's office. If the Department was going to make him choose between his badge and McCall's life, there was no choice to make. Charlie changes his mind and places a phone call that will give Hunter access to Rudy for the exchange.

Rudy Lassiter decides to make his own escape, however, ruining Hunter's plan. While Hunter is transporting him, under the guise of moving Rudy from the hospital to the prison infirmary, he grabs an officer's gun and fires. Hunter has no option but to fire back, killing Rudy and any chance of getting McCall back.

Hunter has to make Lassiter believe that his brother is still alive by claiming that it would be fatal if he left the hospital making the trade impossible. He's hoping that the story will buy him some more time to find McCall. He is trying very hard to keep his imagination in check. Really, there are only two possibilities by now, and he's not sure death is not the better of the two.

Hunter finally gets a break when Lassiter's ex-wife gives him an address for a farmhouse outside of town. But by the time Hunter, Charlie and swarm of backup officers raid the farmhouse, Lassiter and McCall are gone. The farmhouse is littered with the dead bodies of Lassiter's followers. Hundred dollar bills have been stuffed in their mouths. With every turn, every door opened, Hunter's heart stops expecting to see McCall's lifeless body. The only indication he finds of McCall's existence is the bloodied manacles hanging from a headboard in a bedroom upstairs. The dead man shot lying face down on that bed turns his stomach.

DAY 11

McCall has been held hostage for two full days. Hunter managed to sleep a full three hours on a cot in Charlie's office over night, but it seems to have only made the banging in his head worse. It is six in the morning, and he and Charlie are alone in the squad room. Both men are deep in thought, heads in their hands, trying to figure out where to go from here. The hum of the air conditioning and the percolating of the coffee maker are the only sounds.

"You two are more than just partners, aren't you?" Charlie braves the question he has wondered off and on since became their captain. Hunter's actions since McCall's kidnapping have all but confirmed his suspicions.

"No." Hunter starts to deny it merely out of habit. "Yes, well not really. I don't know. We're something, but it's not what you're thinking."

"She's important to you."

"Yeah, of course. You know that."

"Do you love her?" Hunter pinches the bridge of his nose, pondering the question. He has been asking himself the same question for years. He sits back in his chair, gazing at window in the opposite direction of Charlie, and subtly nods his head in ascent. "Did her leaving the force have anything to do you?"

Hunter inhales and audibly blows it out, "Yeah, I think it did." He rubs his hand over his eyes, he cannot remember ever being this strung out before. "Charlie, why did you decide to help me make the trade with Rudy? You could have been fired right along with me."

"She's important to me, too."

Charlie squeezes Hunter's shoulder as he heads to the coffee pot. "We'll find her. And you'll get your chance to apologize for whatever it is you did to her." Hunter has to laugh at that. Charlie has absolutely no concept of what has transpired between he and McCall, but Charlie is perceptive enough to know that Hunter is the one that dropped the ball in the relationship.

Charlie offers a cup to Hunter, but he shakes his head no as he eyes his desk littered with empty Styrofoam cups. Caffeine stopped working sometime yesterday. "Why don't you go home, get some rest. I'll hold down the fort." He says as he returns with his fresh mug.

"What the hell is this guy up to?" Hunter asks, more to himself than to any person. Charlie just shakes his head, there is nothing left to say. Through clenched teeth, Hunter threatens, "If he hurts her, I'll find him – even if I have to go all the way to hell."

Both Hunter and Charlie jump when Hunter's phone rings. He quickly grabs it, and hears Lassiter's furious voice on the line. He knows that his brother is dead, and he has a plan to take his revenge against Hunter for killing him. Hunter would gladly trade his life for McCall's, he just hopes Lassiter has not already taken hers.

Lassiter sends Hunter on a scavenger hunt only a criminal master-mind could create, devised to lose his backup and confuse his senses. He is led to an abandoned, multi-story warehouse building with a labyrinth of hallways and stairwells. Lassiter's ultimate goal is to kill to Hunter, so he shelters himself as he moves cautiously through the warehouse. Echoes of Lassiter's disembodied voice and blasts of automatic gunfire direct Hunter through the maze, up to the roof and hopefully towards to McCall.

As he runs from behind a mechanical unit to a roof vent he sees her, balanced on the parapet, tied to a pipe and gagged. For a moment he's paralyzed. The pain and fear he sees in her face terrifies him. He ducks behind the vent searching the area with his eyes for any traps. He is sure that if he goes directly to her they will both be killed. Not finding any obvious signs, he decides to make a run toward her. She's not looking at him anymore, her eyes are fixed on something behind him. On autopilot he turns and fires. The force of the bullets propels Lassiter backward, falling over the edge of the roof and crashing into a glass ceiling below. Hunter has to see, before he can focus on McCall, that Lassiter is dead. McCall will understand.

Certain that the threat is gone, Hunter runs to her untying the gag immediately. His eyes search her trying to determine how badly she's injured and how to get her untied and off the edge of the roof. They can hear the sirens in the distance, getting closer and closer. Charlie and his backup have found them, thank God. She's not making a sound and he knows that she is trying to be brave, that she does not want anyone to know how terrified she is. For her sake he better get her down before anyone can see her this way.

As Hunter gets the last knot loose and frees McCall from the pipe she collapses into him crying with relief. He pulls her away from the edge and they both fall to the floor. He completely loses control of his emotions. She's alive. The nightmare is over. He wraps himself around her and buries his face in her hair, holding her as tight as he dares without hurting her. He lets a few tears fall down his face. The department was willing to risk her life to maintain policy, but he saved her.

For several minutes they remain there, wrapped up in each other, crying, comforting each other. He keeps repeating in her ear "I've got you, it's okay now."

Charlie, along with two uniform officers and the paramedics burst onto the roof. As soon as Charlie sees them, he motions for everyone to stay back and give them privacy.

Hunter finally looks up and sees the group of people waiting for them. Looking back down at McCall he realizes that she surely needs medical attention. As much as he would prefer to hold her close forever, he must get her help. He surveys her body looking for injuries again. "Where are you hurt?" he asks her.

"It's mostly just my wrists," she responds and he can see the angry welts and the blood trickling down her hands. He also notes bruises on her face, a busted lip, a few buttons missing from her shirt and her pants ripped at the knee.

He tries to pull her up to a standing position with him, but her legs are too weak to carry her. Although the paramedics are there with a cot for her, he needs to do this himself – he is not ready to hand her over to someone else. So he picks her up, and she gently puts her arms around his neck and hides her face so no one can see that she is crying. He walks past the crowd without saying a word. No one dares to stop him.

By the time they reach the ambulance that is positioned just outside the warehouse, she has composed herself. He lays her down on a waiting cot, giving her a brief kiss on the cheek. As the paramedics quickly begin to buzz around her, he tells her he will be back in a minute to check on her.

Hunter heads back inside the warehouse to find the Captain and to get started on the crime scene analysis. He wants to get this wrapped up as soon as he can so he can get back to McCall. While discussing the details of the events with the officers collecting the statements he sees the ambulance drive away. _Damnit, I should be with her._

"Captain!" Hunter yells as he sees Charlie inspecting the spot where McCall had been found.

"She's been through hell, hasn't she?" Charlie states, shaking his head in disbelief, as Hunter walks up behind him. Charlie is too scared of heights to even look over the edge of the four-story building, meanwhile McCall had been dangling over it. "Lassiter was one crazy bastard. Is she going to be ok?"

"I don't know. It looks like she's been taken to the hospital. I need to be with her."

"I understand. Go see her, but I need your report before the end of the day."

"Thanks, Charlie."

"Tell her we love her, will ya?"

"Hey Hunter!" Officer Bennett is running toward Hunter trying to get his attention. "The paramedics took McCall to Wilshire Memorial. She asked me to give you a message. She's going to need a change of clothes and some other things from home, but you are the only one with a key to her house. Says she lost her purse when they grabbed her. She asked if you can send a female officer to her house, get the stuff and take it to the hospital."

He knows exactly where her purse is, he had found it on the side of the road in front of her house. The last thing McCall needs is one more person invading her personal life.

'I'll do it. Thanks, Bennett."

X-X-X-X

"Someone order a change of clothes?" Hunter says as he peeks his head into McCall's hospital room and knocks on the door politely. She looks tiny and fragile laying in the hospital bed. Her black curls are matted up against the pillow after days of neglect. There is a bag of ice taped to her left shoulder. Her eyes are dark and glassy with exhaustion.

She turns her head to see him in the doorway. "Hi. You didn't have to do this yourself. I meant for you to have someone else do it." But the smile on her face says she is glad he did.

"You didn't want me to come?" He says teasing her as walks over to her and places the bag he has packed for her on the foot of her bed.

"That's not what I said. I know you have things to do. Work and all."

"Nonsense. I was on my way up here anyway." Sitting down on the edge of her bed near her hip he says, "Besides, I doubt you wanted some random person rummaging through your things."

"Right, and you didn't rummage through my underwear drawer to find the black lace?" she says as she raises an eyebrow.

"They were on top, promise." He says feigning innocence.

_Hardly,_ she thinks, _I haven't had an excuse to wear them in months. _"Well, anyway, thank you." It feels good to joke around with each other again. They have always used their similar sense of humor to get each other through the rough situations, and thank goodness today is no different.

"So what's the damage here?" he asks.

Sighing, she answers, "Fatigue, dehydration, low blood sugar, anemia, bruised ribs and a sprained shoulder. They have me on IV fluids and bandaged my wrists. Supposedly, I can get out of here in a few hours."

"That doesn't sound too bad. I'll let you rest, though. Unfortunately, I do still have to go back to work, but I will make sure an officer is here to get you home okay."

He starts to stand up when she grabs a hold of his hand. "Thank you."

Taking her hand into both of his he says, "You don't need to thank me. Whether you are a cop or not, I will always find you. Now get some rest. Charlie says you can come to the station tomorrow to give your statement. So for now just take it easy."

She closes her eyes and nods in agreement, suggesting that she has just used up whatever energy she had left.

X-X-X-X

Hunter finally gets to McCall's house that evening with Chinese take-out in hand. After finishing his report in record time, he took a few minutes to go home, shower and change into jeans and a clean shirt. He feels like a new man. She opens the door surprised to see him. "Hiya, I thought you might need some dinner."

"Um, yeah, come in." She leads the way into the kitchen. It is a warm evening, and her house still feels stuffy after being empty for several days. Her arms are a rainbow of colors from pink to dark blue, the shades made darker against the white of her t-shirt. The bandages on her wrists and the bruises on her forearms he had noticed in the hospital, but the pink and red scratch marks are new. This he remembers well from the rape – the long, scalding hot showers where she all but rubbed her skin right off.

"This was nice of you. But you really didn't need to come check on me."

"Yes I did. Your refrigerator is sketchy on a good day, after being gone for a while, whatever is in there can probably walk out on its own." Sheepishly, he adds, "Plus, I kinda miss you." She smiles, but it doesn't reach her eyes.

She picks at her food and seems to be preoccupied. After watching her for a while, he tries to get her to talk to him. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Sounding defeated and staring at her plate, "No, I really don't."

After a few minutes of silence, she puts her fork down and looks up at him. "I'm sorry. I'm just really tired. I am glad to see you, it's just been a rough few days, you know." She starts to sit back in her chair and cross her arms over her chest, but winces in pain when she accidentally brushes one of the bruises. His heart aches. Why her? Why does she have to go through this again? It is worrying him that she will not open up. He feels like a stranger sitting across from her, instead of the person that held her for days as she cried after the rape or the person that she confided in and lived with for nearly a week after the Bigfoot case.

"Where you guys really going to make the trade, me for Rudy?" She asks. "Lassiter said you did."

"Yeah." he answers quickly and matter-of-factly.

"I can't believe the Department agreed to that. Wouldn't it have been against policy?"

"The Department wasn't involved."

"What do you mean?"

"I made the deal. The Department wasn't involved."

"It was against policy." McCall whispers, her eyes wide as she starts to put it all together. "You would have lost your job."

"I was out of options."

"But..." She begins to protest, but he interrupts her mid-sentence, "I was out of options. Lookit, there ARE more important things to me than my job." He looks her square in the face, throwing her words from last week back at her. She had accused him of only caring about his job and blamed him for Andy's suicide.

Anger flashes in her eyes before she fully comprehends what he is saying. "Of course there are. I'm sorry for the things I said to you after Andy's death. I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

"We are both guilty of focusing on our careers occasionally," he says.

She nods in agreement. Something about her appearance has bothered him all evening and he has finally figured it out. "What is going on with your hair?" She has obviously showered, but her hair is a dirty mess. He's worried now that she has a head injury that he has not seen yet.

"Gee, thanks." She responds sarcastically. She quietly confesses that it is too painful to raise her arms high enough to reach the top of her head.

He knows this has to be bothersome for McCall. He has never seen her look anything but perfect. Furthermore, not only does he remember her raw irritated skin in the days after Mariano assaulted her but he also remembers her showering at least three times a day. Not being able to get completely clean is probably killing her. He looks around her kitchen and gets an idea. He disappears for a few minutes and returns with her shampoo, conditioner, a brush and several towels.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to wash your hair. Come over here and I'll help you on to the counter."

She looks at him like he has lost his mind, but she is too tired to argue and does as instructed. He places a folded towel on the edge of the sink and helps her lie down on the counter with her head on the towel. She is tense at first, unsure what to expect, but the warm water on her scalp and the feel of his fingers running through her hair feels wonderful. He's surprisingly good at this, she thinks to herself. She starts to wonder how many beautiful blonds have been treated to this same experience, but quickly pushes that thought away as she loses herself in the pleasure of the moment. By the time he is finished rinsing out the conditioner she has fallen asleep.

He gently wakes her up. "I better get going so that you can go to bed." He helps her off the counter and they walk together to the front door. "I can drive you to Parker Center in the morning, if you want."

"What? Oh, for my statement. No, I think I will be okay." She says pensively, looking down at her fingers which are trying to pick at polish no longer there.

"Kay, well call me if you need anything," he says. He wants to brush back the wet curl that has fallen across her face and replace it with a kiss, but instead he turns to walk out the door.

"Stay with me. Please." She whispers so softly he is not sure he has heard her correctly. Hesitating a moment, he looks back at her and sees her watching him waiting for his response.

"Of course," and he follows her back into the house and to her bedroom. Taking his shoes off, he climbs into bed next to her. This time he extends his arms to her in invitation. She accepts eagerly, curling her body against his and nestling her face in his chest. Finally he can breathe again. He has not completely lost her.

_To be continued..._

So a portion of this turned into a bit of a combination of "The Legion" and "Unfinished Business." It never made sense to me that McCall was held hostage for a couple of days and then walked away without a scratch (and not even a hug for Hunter for saving her?), so I made the experience a little more severe. Anybody else ever notice that McCall's living room in this episode is the same as her and Steve's apartment in "Requiem for Sgt. McCall?" Again, thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

McCall wakes up as the early morning sun begins to creep in through the blinds. Hunter is still sound asleep beside her. She realizes that he probably hasn't gotten much more sleep than she has the past three days. She knows he would move heaven and earth to find her, to rescue her, forgetting to eat, sleep or bathe in the process. The events of the week are weighing heavy on her mind keeping her from sleep, so she quietly gets out of bed and tip toes to the kitchen to make coffee.

With a steaming cup of coffee in hand she burrows into an overstuffed chair in the living room, wraps a throw blanket around her legs and takes comfort in the peace and warmth of her home. Her body is not as sore as it was the night before, and the stinging from the wounds around her wrists has subsided. She knows she has to give her statement to the police today, but just how in the world is she supposed to put it all into words. How is she supposed to relive everything that happened to her, everything she saw? McCall's thoughts are interrupted by the sound of Hunter in the kitchen.

"Morning. How are you feeling?" He asks as he takes a seat in the matching chair next to McCall's. He stretches out and sighs, thankful for a full night of sleep, before realizing that she has not answered him. He looks sideways at her trying to gauge her mood, not noticing the tears until she finally speaks.

"I'm sorry if I woke you, I'm just trying to organize my thoughts for my statement. I guess I'm a little nervous, you know." She says to her coffee she's holding in her lap.

"Yeah, I know. Anything I can do to help?" He asks. She shakes her no as she starts crying.

"It was just so awful. All of it. I didn't think there was any way I getting out of there, I kept thinking 'this is it, this is how it ends.'" She is crying so hard she has to pause until she is able to speak again. "At Andy's funeral all I could think about was how his legacy was tarnished by his actions just before he died. While I was in that farmhouse I realized the same would go for me – the only thing anybody would remember is that I walked out on my job."

"Oh, but that's not true at all."

"And the last time I talked to you, I was so angry and hurting inside. It tore at me that those would be our last words to each other. I didn't want that to be how you remembered me."

"Hey, now, one conversation, at a funeral no less, could never take away everything else we have shared together." He says and she smiles, wiping at the wetness on her cheeks. "Maybe if you told me what happened it would help."

She takes a few calming breaths, then turns her heard toward him, "I know you are assuming I was raped. I can see it in your eyes, the way you look at me." He meets her eyes and again she can see the mixture of fear and sorrow in his. She closes her eyes and shakes her head. "I wasn't. Lassiter threatened it constantly, but wouldn't actually let his men touch me. That didn't stop them from trying to get whatever they could when he wasn't around, though. His men," she closed her eyes tight, tears staining her checks, and her voice choppy, "they had their hands all over me. Tried to kiss me. And I couldn't do anything. I couldn't fight them with my hands cuffed to the bed over my head. I was too scared...I knew...if I tried to fight it would...it would happen."

Hunter, too, squeezed his eyes shut trying to block the images from his mind. Furious that he had not been able to save her soon enough and sick that she had had to live through this, tears trail down his face in pain for her. She needs to talk through this, and he asked to her to do it, but it is torture listening to her.

She continues, "The first day...one of them brought me food. I convinced him to take off the handcuffs so I could eat. I tried to run, to fight my way out. I guess Lassiter heard the commotion and came in and...he uh...beat me up some. It could have been worse, I guess. But after that, to eat or drink, the few times they offered, they had to help me. I think one of those times they drugged me...putting it in my food. I think it was just once, anyway. I refused to eat anything again after that."

"When we raided the farmhouse, we found Bass face down on the bed," Hunter doesn't want to alarm her, but he needs her to be honest with him and with herself.

She nods her head understanding where he's going with this information, "That's why I requested a rape kit done at the hospital. I don't feel sexually assaulted, but I want to know for sure. Hopefully the toxicology screen will also show what they used to drug me."

She pauses for a moment. Still crying and looking at her hands, she continues. "When Lassiter discovered that his brother was in the hospital, he beat up Leroy just so he would be admitted and could get some information on Rudy. He beat him to a pulp. In front of me." She was crying harder now at the memory of it. She had looked away, unable to watch, but the sound of flesh bludgeoning flesh still made her stomach turn.

"Where you there when he killed all of his men?" Hunter asked in a whisper, scared of the answer.

McCall almost laughed. "Yes." Then sighing, "yes, all that was for my benefit. He was furious that you had lied to him about Rudy's death and wanted to give us both a sign of what he could do."

"Damn it," he says under his breath. He reaches over and grabs her hand. Tears still welling in his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Dee Dee. I am so sorry."

"It's not your fault, you know. You can't take the blame for any of this."

"I thought you were dead," he whispers as fresh tears fall down his cheeks. "We all did. I couldn't bear it. I...we...were sure they were...they had repeatedly raped you...then killed you. I couldn't find you. My world was collapsing and I couldn't stop it." He pauses and sniffs. "It was taking too long." The emotions of the past three days are pouring out of him. He is crying hard now and pushing his fists into his eyes trying to stop the tears. "You are my world, you are everything to me."

He kneels in front of her chair and wraps his arms around her, pulling her to him as she buries her face in his neck and wraps her arms around his shoulders. After a few seconds he pulls back and cups her face in his hands. "I love you. I love you so much. It's been there the whole time, but I always pushed it away. I don't want to push it away anymore." He kisses her softly without waiting for her to respond. She pulls away after a moment and rests her forehead against his. "Oh, Rick, I love you, too."

He kisses her again. Against her lips he mumbles, "Then let me show you. Let me show you how much I love you." He pulls back just enough to see her eyes. Wiping away her tears with his thumb.

McCall closes her eyes trying to comprehend everything she is hearing. "I love you, but I can't do this and then go back to just being your friend. You've always chosen our partnership over anything else. I can't go through this again."

"No, I'm tired of being scared of losing you. I almost lost you for good this week. I've already lost you as my partner. We HAVE to take this risk." Hunter smiles, now, through the tears. "I happen think we will be great together." This elicits a watery laugh from McCall. "Besides, I'm not ever letting you go. I'm talking about forever. You are the most important thing in my life. You are a part of me and I cannot live without you. You are it for me. You and no one else."

She searches his eyes, having a difficult time believing the words. She trusts him more than anyone and knows that he would never give her empty promises, but this was something she never thought she would hear him say. What she saw in his face melted her heart. A slow smile comes across her lips. "Me and no one else. This is it." She nods her head up and down like she is making a pact with him.

He chuckles, "It's always been you."

Placing her hands on his cheeks and brushing his lips with her thumb, she whispers, "It's always been you." He kisses her hard and deep. She runs her hands across his shoulders and down his arms, remembering the feel of his tight muscles under her hands. It's been three long years since she's been able to touch him. Three years of longing, of needing him, flood her senses. She wraps her legs around his waist and he pulls her to him closer. His kisses, hot and wet, trail down her jaw to her neck. As her head falls backward to give him room she breaths, "show me."

He cradles her in him arms as he stands up and carries her to the bedroom. As he stretches out on the bed next to her, cradling her head in the crook of his arm and gently running his fingers along the side of her face with his other hand, he takes her in. Her beautiful face, desire in her eyes, her small body arching into his is more than he can handle.

"I've missed you," she says. Until she had thrown her badge and gun on her desk and walked out on her job five days ago they had spent almost every day together for the past six years. It was just one night they had shared three years ago, but they both had poured their hearts and souls into each other that night. And their relationship had never been the same since, personally or professionally. It had nearly ruined them, though, for reasons he still didn't fully understand. He missed what they had had that night. He missed the relationship they had had before that night. Oh, they were still friends, were still there for each other, were still the best detective team in LA. But the easy and comforting bond they had shared had become complicated. It was so much easier when the sexual tension was just that. It was something that hovered between them, to be teased and played with, but never an actual possibility. God he missed her, too. This time he knows the stakes, and he is determined to make sure she knows exactly how he feels about her.

"I love you," he responds. Now that it has been said out loud he can't stop saying it, as if the more he says it the more she will understand how deep and sincere his love is for her. "I don't want to hurt you. Just tell me and I'll stop." He knows she is bruised and wounded, but he still is not sure of the extent.

"I don't want to stop. I need you," McCall says as she slides her hands behind his neck and pulls him down for a kiss.

X-X-X-X

He nuzzles her cheek, bathing himself in the feel of her underneath him and not yet ready to disconnect from her. He had wanted to go slow, to learn every piece of her all over again, but his need for her had just been too strong. He could not control himself. As he begins to pull away, she suddenly tenses and her eyes widen. Then regret washes over her face. She closes her eyes as she tells him, "We forgot something."

_Oh, shit_. He hasn't done this without a condom in twenty something years, how could he have forgotten now. His body collapses on top of her, face down into her pillow, he says, "I'm clean, I promise."

"I know you are." But there was a hint of anxiety in her voice. "I am, too, as far as I know."

"The pill, you are on birth control, right?" He was hopeful. But she shook her head as she bit her lower lip.

"My prescription ran out right after Jason and I broke up. There hasn't been an immediate need since then, you know. I mean, I don't usually let things go this fast."

Hunter raises up onto his elbow so that he can see her, "You call this fast? Seriously, I should get an award for waiting three years." He rolls to his side shifting his weight off of her. She rolls over, too, so that they are facing each other, sharing the same pillow.

Giggling, she responds, "You know what I mean. Maybe not for you," she gives him an accusing look and pokes him in the chest playfully, "but for me there is usually time between first date and sex to renew the prescription."

This he knows. She is careful about who she lets into in her life, and especially into her bed. She confessed to him years ago that between the rape, having a two inch scar on the back of her neck from getting shot, the attempted rape and the associated remaining trauma from those events, sleeping with someone just was not worth it unless she really trusted him and was ready to share all of this with him.

"I could handle it, you know. A baby. With you, maybe it wouldn't be so bad," he confesses.

She looks at him slightly confused. Hunter is great with kids. He loves kids. As long as he can give them back. She's not really sure if he never actually wanted kids at some point in his life, or if he just never married so it never came up. She does know that he has never expressed a desire, even on the many occasions that she has talked about her own need to be a mother. It has always seemed to her that their opinions on marriage and family were one of the reasons they had never entertained the idea of a romantic involvement. Not really wanting to have this conversation now she replies, "Maybe we shouldn't worry about something that probably won't happen anyway, hmm?"

He kisses her forehead and they lay there for a long time, enjoying the feel of the intimacy between them.

"I never thought I'd get to do this again, but I thought about it…a lot." He says running his fingertips down her back and kissing the tip of her nose. "Just because I was too scared to change our relationship doesn't mean I didn't cherish that night."

"When I came home from Quantico, I had a fantasy of you being at the airport waiting for me. I knew it was dumb. I had given you no reason to think I wanted you there, but I still searched the gateway and baggage claim for you anyway."

"If I had known, I would have been there." He says with regret, and she signs wistfully. "So tell me more about your fantasies."

A shy laughter comes from deep inside while her fingers toy with the hair on his chest. "Well…let's just say I wouldn't've pulled away if you had grabbed me and kissed the crap out of me."

In one motion he pulls her on top of him, bringing her knees up around his hips with his hands, and then rolling both of them so that he's on top of her and kisses her hard into the mattress.

"Like that?" he breaths against her lips. She laughs a deep, sexy laugh. "Just like that," her voice is strained with new desire. So he kisses her that way again.

He pulls away in frustration as he realizes there is someone banging on her front door. "You gotta be kidding?" Hunter growls between clinched teeth as he reluctantly gets up and finds his jeans on the floor, pulling them on and buttoning the fly as he walks down the hall. He opens the door to find a red-faced Charlie.

Charlie, only slightly surprised to find Hunter at McCall's house, takes in Hunter's shirtless and flushed appearance along with the slight bulge still visible in his pants. He's been searching for his two star detectives for two hours now, and his relief to finally find them quickly turns to rage. He's been worried sick, calling them, beeping them, and finally got worried enough to drive over to Hunter's house and now to McCall's...and they have just been ignoring him the whole time while confirming every rumor that ever circulated about the two of them.

"Hope you two are having fun, because the rest of us are waiting for you to do your jobs!" Charlie is nearly screaming in Hunter's face. Hunter, surprised by Charlie's reaction, turns to look at the clock on the mantel. 10:15am. It's later than he expected. Charlie registers the look of defeat on Hunter's face. Continuing his outburst, "I've been trying to reach both of you all morning!"

Just then McCall walks up to the door. She has wrapped herself in a robe and run her fingers through her hair, but there is no mistake in what had been going on just a few seconds earlier. "Sorry, Captain, I took the phone off the hook last night so that I could sleep without any interruptions. I forgot." She turns from the door and scans her living room, "and his beeper...well...um...I'm not sure." McCall's voice trails off as she looks up at Hunter silently asking for help.

"You two are needed at Parker Center as soon as you can squeeze it into your schedule." And with that, Charlie turns and stomps back to his car.

Hunter closes the door just as McCall bursts into laughter. "I feel like a teenager and my dad has just caught me making out with a boy in my room!" she giggles as she covers her face with her hands.

Hunter relaxes and allows himself to grin at the thought. "Well, I guess we better get our asses to Parker Center."

"Hmmm, yes, I'll get in the shower," McCall replies between giggles.

With a devilish grin on his face he asks, "Want some company in there?"

Her laughter trails down the hallway, "I don't think that will speed things up."

X-X-X-X

Walking into the squad room, both Hunter and McCall are feeling anxious about facing the captain. McCall has chosen to wear a full length cotton dress with a light-weight denim jacket, cool, comfortable and covers all of her scratches and bruises. Hunter had no choice but to wear the jeans, casual cotton button-down shirt and sandals from the evening before. He has no intention of actually working today; he's not letting McCall out of his sight. Certainly he deserves some R&R after working continuously for days.

"Charlie?" McCall says in an almost timid voice as she knocks on the captain's door. Charlie looks up and blushes a little to himself.

"Come in. Come in." Charlie says, looking back down to his desk trying to avoid eye contact. Hunter and McCall take a seat in their normal chairs, just like any other work day.

Hunter leans forward in his chair, elbows on his knees. Feeling contrite, he begins to apologize. "Lookit, Charlie, I'm sorry about this morning." Charlie quickly puts his hand up to stop Hunter.

"No, no. No need to apologize. I shouldn't have gotten as upset as I did. You two have been through a lot. I, uhh, just got nervous when I couldn't find you is all." Charlie is seriously wanting to just move on to his professional duties and steer-clear of what he interrupted this morning. Suspecting and knowing are two very different animals, and unfortunately for him, the image in his head of Hunter and McCall in a less than professional embrace will not go away.

"Um, Dee Dee, I'm glad to see you looking better today. How are you feeling?" Charlie asks.

"I am feeling much better, thank you. I'm a little sore, but all things considered I'm doing pretty well I think. I will feel even better when I get this statement out of the way." McCall says.

"Well, let's get that over with, then." Charlie gets up from his chair and walks out of his office, returning quickly with a uniformed officer with him. "I have asked Officer Pierce to take down your statement. You can use interrogation two."

As McCall takes a deep breath and stands up, Hunter reaches out a hand to her. She squeezes his hand tight, giving him a nervous smile. Then she dutifully follows the rookie officer to interrogation two. Hunter watches her leave and as soon as she is out of earshot he slumps down in his chair. Rubbing his hands over his face, he sighs loudly.

"How is she really?" Now that McCall is gone, Charlie feels a little more comfortable talking about the situation with Hunter.

"She really is doing amazingly well. She's more sore and upset than she will ever admit to you, but truth be told she's holding up better than I am. I've always known that she is 100 times stronger than me, I just wish she didn't have to prove it over and over again." He pauses as tears threaten to fill his eyes again as he remembers McCall's confessions to him this morning. "It's bad, Charlie."

A huge lump forms in Charlie's throat.

Knowing what Charlie is immediately assuming, Hunter continues, "She wasn't raped. By her own confession, but she also had a rape kit performed to prove it. The lab called this morning confirming the results. So at least that's something."

"What DID they do to her?" Charlie enquires relunctantly.

"Everything but." Hunter slams his fists down on the arms of his chair in frustration. "Damn it, Charlie! She left the force to get away from this crap! She left ME to get away from this crap! I feel like I've failed her."

"Rick, how in the world do you think you failed her?" Charlie asks. "You've always been there for her, and you are there for her now."

"I failed her long before Lassiter and his cronies kidnapped her." Hunter admits, resigned to himself.

Charlie nods in understanding. "Permission to talk to you like your friend instead of your boss?" Charlie waits for Hunter to acquiesce. "You can't go back and change what has happened. All you can do now is apologize, and love her the way you should have been loving her the whole time."

Hunter lets out a small chuckle and a reluctant smile at Charlie's direct advice. "I'm trying."

McCall returns and she has obviously been crying, her eyes are still red and glassy and her eyeliner has been mostly rubbed off. Otherwise, she seems to be relieved and gives both Hunter and Charlie a small smile letting them know that she is ok. Taking a seat in the chair she just left just a few minutes ago, she says "Well, that's done." She can sense some tension in the office. Looking back and forth between the two men, "Everything ok?"

"Everything is fine," Hunter says as he takes a seat as well, squeezing McCall's shoulder as he walks by. "How are you feeling?"

"Hungry!" McCall laughs, surprising even herself that her appetite has returned now that she can relax. Hunter joins her laughter, also feeling a weight lifting off his shoulders.

"Charlie, I know it's already past lunchtime, but I don't think Hunter or I have eaten yet today. Want to join us for lunch?" The look on his face suggests he's trying to figure out how to say no. "Come on, I'm buying. It's the least I can do for my two heroes." She tries giving him a smile he can't refuse.

Feeling unnaturally embarrassed, Charlie responds, "Oh, thank you, but I don't want to interrupt anything."

Feigning innocence, McCall says, "Interrupt what? Me stuffing my face with a cheeseburger? Because I'm doing that whether you two gentlemen join me or not." Everyone chuckles at that knowing McCall's typical appetite, and it has to be amped up a notch after being practically starved for days. Taking on a more somber tone, she adds, "I'd really like a chance to catch up with you. I've missed you since I've been gone."

"Well, now you can't say no to that." Hunter says to Charlie.

"No, I certainly can't," Charlie says with a smile.

X-X-X-X

"Hmmm, I would like to order a cheeseburger, fries and a large soda. Oh, and a chocolate milk shake." McCall hands the menu to the waiter and notices a look of disgust on Hunter's face. She winks at him and shrugs her shoulders.

Still looking at McCall he tells the waiter, "I'll have exactly the same thing," and she laughs.

"Things must have been bad. I have never known you to stress-eat before."

"Not stress-eating. I'd call it more of a celebration meal," and he winks back at her.

It is Charlie's turn to order, "What the hell, make it three."

"It's good to see you laughing again. We have all certainly missed you around the precinct. Especially the tall guy here," says Charlie.

Angling her head to look over at Hunter, "Yeah, I know." Addressing Charlie she continues, "I miss all of you, too. I'm not missing the work, but I didn't think about how much I'd miss the people when I left."

"You are always welcome back. Any time. I was hoping Rick was going to be able to persuade you to return."

"Thank you, but I really think I am burned out. I think I may have hit the proverbial wall a while ago. Rick's been a big help covering for me, whether he realizes it or not."

Hunter looks at her confused, "What do you mean I've been covering for you?"

"Leaving me behind to do the research while you are running around actually chasing the bad guys. It started out as a budgetary necessity. And we made that decision together, that we would continue working on the same cases splitting up the work instead of taking separate cases and working entirely alone. So I never complained, although I have felt left out at times. It's completely changed our dynamic, you know. You've also taken over as lead on every case, when we used to trade off that responsibility. I allowed it to happen, but I don't think you even noticed the change."

Charlie had noticed these changes, but it seemed to be working for them. Besides, he learned early on not to question their methods. Hunter, however, is looking shell-shocked.

Deciding she has said too much in front of Charlie, she places a hand on Hunters forearm and smiles at him softly. "We can talk about this later." McCall's demeanor brightens up as she turns her attention back to Charlie. "Right now I want to hear all the juicy office gossip."

"Oh, well, I don't know about any of that. Except I did hear that Bob's wife finally left him."

"Poor Bob, although I'm not surprised." McCall says.

"Yeah, I don't think anybody was." Pausing for a moment, "So if you are sure you don't want to come back to Homicide, what are your plans?

The restaurant is warm and McCall sheds her denim jacket, completely forgetting about the scratches and bruises that she was trying to hide by wearing the jacket in the first place. Charlie tries to hide a wince as he gets a peek for the first time of the kind of pain she may be hiding. He is reminded of the report, containing her statement, that he will have to read when he returns to his office. This he is not looking forward to. "I'm still trying to figure that out really. I had spoken with CPS a few days ago, I like the idea of working with kids. I also have a contact at a battered woman's shelter. I'm considering maybe counselling."

"Are you sure you would want to do that? Deal with assaulted women every day?" Charlie seems greatly concerned about this idea.

"I kinda deal with at least one assaulted woman every day already. Maybe it could be therapeutic to use my experiences to help others. But you're right, it's something I would have to consider very carefully."

"Have you considered returning to the force as something other than a homicide detective?" Charlie is hoping to plant a seed in her head.

Hunter is finally able to return to the conversation after being lost in his own head since McCall's comments about the state of their partnership, "You know that is definitely something to consider."

Hesitantly, McCall replies, "I don't know….," and then breaks off.

"Just know that the possibility is out there. I would be happy to make some calls for you." Charlie says in one of his more fatherly moments.

"Thanks" is all McCall can think of to say.

Their food arrives and the conversation turns to lighter subjects as the trio settles into their more familiar banter. Charlie shares stories about his cat, while Hunter tells them about Frank Donnegar's offer to shower and brush his teeth regularly if he had the opportunity to partner with Hunter. At the end of the meal, Charlie wishes McCall well and they head to their cars.

The atmosphere between Hunter and McCall suddenly gets awkward, getting into the car neither are sure where to go from here. Finally, McCall breaks the silence, "Do…do you want to stay at my place for the weekend?"

Hunter's face breaks out into his famous lop-sided grin, "I was planning on it."

"Oh you were, were you?"

Images from that morning rush through his head and he's instantly ready for a replay. "Yep, it's all part of my plan."

"And what plan would that be?" McCall asks flirtatiously.

"To see how many times I can have you screaming my name before I leave for work Monday morning."

They have flirted and teased with each other like this for as long as she can remember, and she is always able to match him wit for wit without even a hint of blushing. Suddenly, there is a promise of truth to his words and she finds herself tongue-tied. Memories of his hands running down her thigh and the way he breathed her name in her ear when he had finally made his way completely inside her flood her brain. She can't even breath, much less think of quick and witty response. _C'mon, Dee Dee, you can do this! Flirt back FLIRT BACK! _Finally she is able to manage a slow teasing smile, "I think I like this plan."

Walking up to McCall's house from the car, they keep taking quick peeks at each, smiling with anticipation of what is ahead. As they approach her porch, she rummages through her purse looking for her keys. His hands are already roaming up and down her sides, and she nearly drops the keys when she feels his lips brush her neck. Her mind gets all fuzzy again and the simple task of unlocking her door becomes near impossible.

The moment they walk into her house, he shuts the front door and pushes her up against it and kisses her fiercely. All he can think about is had been so untimely interrupted by Charlie a few hours ago. She giggles into his mouth, and he groans against her cheek while lifting her up off the ground. She spurs him on by wrapping her legs around him so that her entire weight is supported between the door and his pelvis.

A voice in the back of head keeps telling him to be careful, she is injured. But his need for her overrules. He runs his fingertips down her arms until he finds her hands. Interlocking their fingers, he raises their hands over her head and pushes them into the door. She screams out in pain. "Oh my God, I'm sorry!" he says, horrified that he hurt her and letting go of her hands, helping her back down to the floor.

"No, its ok," she says as she rubs her shoulder.

"I can't believe I did that. I'm so sorry."

She looks up at him warmly and places her hands on his cheeks, "it's okay, really." Not wanting to let the mood slip away entirely, she gets up on her tiptoes, grabbing a hold of his collar to pull him down, and plants a searing kiss on his lips, then pulls back grabbing his hands with hers. "Let's try this a different way." She walks backward into the living room, toward the sofa, still holding his hands and her eyes never leaving his. Reaching the sofa she pushes him backward and climbs into his lap straddling him.

Grabbing her hips with both hands, he nearly growls, "Oh, I think I'm going to like your way better."

X-X-X-X

She is vaguely aware of pain in her left shoulder as she lays on the sofa with his weight on her, and his knee just happens to be pressing into a rather large bruise on her right leg, but the feel of his lips tenderly, lazily kissing her and the slow caress of his thumb on her cheek are intoxicating. She does not remember when or how he ended up on top of her. She does, however, recall the sound of his voice proclaiming how much he loves her as the last quivers of his climax subsided, and it replays over and over in her head. She had responded, "I love you more." To which he had replied, "That's not possible." And her heart melted.

Her sofa is hardly big enough for Hunter to lie on, much less the two of them. They eventually make their way back to her bedroom and sleep the rest of the day. That night they share a pizza and watch a movie, enjoying the ability to relax and recuperate. The next day finds them at Hunter's condo, spending the afternoon playing on the beach. McCall is stretched out on a blanket on the sand, the sun warming her battered skin and sore muscles. She still feels like she could sleep for days, no doubt all her energy is being used up by her body repairing itself. Her mind is oddly content. She is out of a job, her body is bruised and torn and she is embarking on a relationship that has the potential to either be the most fulfilling and rewarding relationship of her life, or an explosion that will destroy the two of them and everything else in its wake, but all she feels is comfort and happiness. The ease of which she and Hunter have fallen into a romantic situation baffles her. She always thought it would be awkward, but instead it feels as though it is something that was always meant to be. Like every kiss, every touch, every word shared between them had always been there accumulating just below the surface ready to be released. Although he has been surprisingly gentle, the physical part of this is probably not beneficial to her heeling. That being said, she has no intention of slowing down.

McCall starts at the cold drops of water on her legs as Hunter returns from swimming in the surf. "Coming to the beach is the best idea you've had in a long time," She says as he lies next to her.

"I thought my idea this morning was a pretty good one," he says, leaning over to place a kiss on her lips. "You certainly weren't complaining at the time."

She smiles at the memory, "Hmm, definitely no complaints."

He lays back down on his back, not quite touching her. His tone turns serious. "When we were talking about last time, before you left for Quantico, you said that if you had told me then what you wanted it would have ruined everything. What did you want?"

"I'm not sure I really knew, exactly." She stops to consider her thoughts. "At the time, I guess, I was curious what that night might lead to. Maybe…maybe see what happened."

"You wanted a relationship?"

"I was willing to explore the idea, yes." He thought about this for a minute, trying to imagine what that would have been like. "I loved you. Back then. I mean….I already loved you."

Surprised by her admission, he turned his head to the side to see her. "Would you have given up our partnership for me?"

She turns her head, too, so that they are nose to nose, but looks back up to the sky before answering. "I'm not sure I really thought about it through, you know." They watch a flock of seagulls fly overhead. "If I hadn't left the force, would we be here right now?"

"Are you asking if I'd still want you if you came back?"

"If you had to choose between me being your partner or being your lover, which would you choose?"

"You are the best partner I will ever have, you know that. There was a time when I thought that was all that mattered – a good partner that cared as much for me as I did for her. And I didn't think I could do the job without you anymore, but, I think the truth is that I didn't want to live my life without you. As a partner was the only way I thought I could have you."

"And you were okay with that."

"Mostly, yeah, I was. You told me once that you would never love another cop."

"Hmm, that was a long time ago. Steven's death was still very much a big part of my life. A lot has happened since then. But, you still haven't answered my question."

"Facing a life without you these past few days, I know for sure that I would rather share a life with you than a desk." And with that he extends his fingers to touch her hand. She interlocks her fingers with his and squeezes. "Now, you have to decide if you're willing to share your life with another cop."

"I've always tried to decide if I would have married Steven if I had known I was going to lose him. I always come up with the same answer. Yes. And not only would I have married him, but I would have loved him more. I would have devoured every little moment of every day and crammed all the love I had for him into that short time we had together. You always think there is more time. I thought so much about our future together, but I wish I had paid more attention to the present. But I wouldn't trade the memories or that happiness for anything." The hitch in her voice makes him shift up onto elbow to look down at her. Reaching her hand up to his cheek, she continued, "You and I have been together twice as long as I was with Steven, maybe it's time I start following my own advice."

"I think you should," he said with a smile and leaned over to kiss her. "So what is going to happen come Monday morning?"

She knew this conversation was going to come up, but she was hoping for one more day of ignoring the issue. "Well, you go to work and I start looking for something else."

"You still won't consider coming back?"

"And what happens if I do? We just concluded that we can't do this," she says wave her hand between them, "and be partners. We couldn't even try to hide it if we wanted to, Charlie knows."

"You need to leave me out of this. Do you want to be a cop or not? That's the question here, anything beyond that I think can work itself out. And Charlie had a good point that you don't have to come back to Homicide. Transferring to another division, where death isn't the name of the game, might just be the change you need. Look, you and I are not Andy." She opens her mouth to protest. He places his fingers lightly on her lips to stop her. "Don't let his shortcomings make your decisions for you. I will support you in whatever decision you make, but if you choose to leave make sure you are doing it for the right reasons." She lays there silent and he is not sure if she is thinking or ignoring him. He rolls onto his back again. "Besides, Charlie thought there we were already lovers."

"What?"

"Late one night, or maybe it was early one morning," he chuckles to himself, "Charlie asked the particulars of our relationship."

"Great. So does that mean he has been 'looking the other way' on a fraternization infraction?" She felt him shrug his shoulders. "For how long?"

"I don't know. It's funny, though, isn't it?"

_To be continued..._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

By Monday morning McCall had answered his question. She did want to be a cop. They made the decision together to continue being partners until McCall can find a post in a different division, and keeping their relationship a secret until then. Charlie also agreed to hold their relationship close to the vest, anything to have McCall back with the LAPD. She was frustrated when Hunter disclosed that Charlie had been holding onto her badge and gun, and never actually filling out the paperwork for her resignation. She was frustrated that they did not take her seriously when she left, and frustrated that they knew her so well. It did, of course, make returning infinitely easier.

Easing into dual roles as partners and lovers, was not as easy. They tended to spend work nights at McCall's place and weekends at Hunter's, which occasionally led to someone's car being left at the wrong place or Hunter losing track of his sport coats. A few slips of the tongue made for some awkward recoveries at work. A question about dinner plans here, an argument about whose turn it is to unload the dishwasher there. When a young, good-looking, but bold fireman asked McCall for her number in front of Hunter it took all of his self-control to not announce their relationship right then and there. He had never paid that much attention to McCall's dating life in the past. He questioned her type, she always seemed to go after the wimpy professional type that he never thought were good enough for her. As long as she was happy and they treated her well, though, he stayed out of the way. He had often wondered how she ended up married to Steve since he did not seem to fit in with the others. Perhaps marrying a cop had been her way of rebelling against her white-collar parents, as if being a cop herself wasn't rebellion enough. Realizing that if she had followed her parent's wishes to begin with she would not have been a widow at twenty-four years old, she had learned her lesson. But then he would watch her mourn Steve even years after his death and he wondered if she purposely chose wimpy men now because they had a low risk of a sudden, early departure. Hunter isn't sure where any of this leaves him. But he does know that since he has decided he wants McCall for himself, he has no tolerance for any man that may try to get in his way.

They never talk about their future as a couple, apart from McCall looking for a different post and their semi-co-habitation arrangement. McCall is sticking to her own advice of living in the present and never taking their time together for granted, but she cannot help but wonder on occasion if Hunter will ever be open to the family she always wanted. For now, she supposes the next step is just going public with their relationship.

After a few weeks, McCall thought she had come down with a cold. She was unreasonably tired and just feeling out of sorts. In true McCall fashion, she mostly ignored the symptoms and continued to push through. When she suddenly had to run to the restroom after walking into Charlie's office while he was eating a philly cheesesteak sandwich, she had to admit to herself that something was happening to her body. Working together, living together, often sharing a car made it difficult for McCall to test her theory without Hunter knowing, and she did not want to have that conversation unless it was absolutely necessary. It takes a few more days before she has an opportunity to leave the precinct before Hunter and make a trip to the drug store.

Three minutes. The longest three minutes of her life are spent sitting on her bathroom floor waiting to see if a second pink line appears or not. The very dark, very definite double pink lines leave no room for interpretation – she is pregnant.

She has no idea how long she has been in her bathroom, sitting against the wall with her knees brought up to her chest when Hunter suddenly appears in the doorway. The positive pregnancy test still in her hand, she does not even look up at him. He stands there for a long while, silent, trying to figure out the tableau in front of him.

He sits down next to her, shoulder to shoulder, imitating her position and takes a deep breath. "I'm guessing that is positive," he says at last, gesturing to the test. McCall slowly nods her head yes, still looking straight ahead of her. They had known it was a possibility, even talked about it, but neither had thought about it again. Out of the corner of his eye he watches her swipe away a tear from her cheek. "How long have you known?"

"Um," she starts to speak, but her voice comes out as a croak. After clearing her throat, "A few days, I guess. I was trying to ignore it, hoping I was wrong." He nods his head in understanding. He cannot decide what to say, so he hopes that opting for nothing is better than saying the wrong thing. For several minutes the only sound in her small bathroom, which smells impossibly of her even after he has been sharing it for a month, is her occasional sniff.

Finally, turning her head to him and looking at him with big pleading eyes she says, "It was love that made this baby, right?" When he looks back at her without answering, she goes on, "You can't deny that. We love each other, it was made in love, right?"

She's asked twice, he has to give her something. "Right."

"Right," she whispers back as her lower lip trembles. "This baby is us. You and me." The fear he had seen in her face slowly disappears as she decides to deliver an ultimatum, "I love this baby." And he cannot pretend to misunderstand her meaning – she and the baby are now a package deal, he accepts the baby or he loses her.

He wraps his arms around her and she nearly melts with relief as he mumbles, "I'm not going anywhere."

Their life together changes immediately. He feels like the baby is telling him 'good, now that you know I exist I can start torturing my mother.' It is so immediate neither of them had time to adjust to the idea of McCall being pregnant before she starts getting sick anytime, anywhere. It feels like a huge accomplishment if she just makes it through the work day without getting sick at her desk or having to lie down to rest. There are times that she rides with him to the morgue or to question a witness just so she can sleep in the car. He rarely sees her outside of work. She is almost always asleep when he gets to her place in the evenings, especially with him working late picking up the slack so she can leave early. Occasionally, she wakes up long enough to eat something and take a shower, other nights she sleeps straight through til morning. He is never sure, on those nights, if he should stay or go home. They have spent every night together so far, and he wants her to feel like he cares. But he cannot help but think of other ways he could be spending his time than hanging around her house as she sleeps. Perhaps she would even sleep better if he was not there tossing and turning next to her. Every night, though, he chooses to stay.

One morning, waking up early he finds her side of the bed empty. A quick scan of the room reveals a small sliver of light coming from underneath the bathroom door. When she does not return to bed after a few minutes he gets up to check on her, and finds her laying on the bathroom floor pressing her flushed and sweaty face against the cold tile. Her hair is curling up in tight ringlets from the perspiration on her face and neck, and her pale hand is clutching a wet towel. In an instant he is crouched beside her checking her pulse and her forehead for a fever. He is instantly relieved when she hoarsely tells him that she is okay, just morning sickness. For the next two hours he stays vigil at her side, placing cold wash cloths on her neck and holding hair back as she pays homage to the porcelain god. All the while, his mind cannot help but wonder why on earth any woman would put themselves through this. Certainly, she is ready to give up – there is no way she still harbors so much love for something that is making her so sick.

After a round of dry heaving, she leans back against Hunter's chest with a whimper. He gently brushes a lock of hair out of her face and places a kiss to the top of her head. "I'm sorry," she whispers. Who knew one simple phrase could break his heart.

"You're sorry for what?"

"This. I know this isn't what you want." Her voice is thick and raspy, and she trembles as the words leave her lips. "If you don't want to be a part of this, I understand. I won't," she has to pause and take a deep breath to ward off a sob, "I won't begrudge you if you want out. I know this isn't what you signed up for." She is giving him an out…and he has been sitting here pondering abortion. Here she is, sicker than he has ever seen a person, and she is worrying about him. Not only is she willing to endure this torture for his child, but she is willing to endure it alone to ensure his happiness.

"Ssh. Don't worry about me, I'm worried about you."

"I'll live. As long as the baby is okay, that is all that matters. This will pass eventually." The level of her self-sacrifice overwhelms him.

"Look, you have to be in court in an hour, let's get you washed up." Hunter says softly and helps her stand up.

McCall, in fact, spends most of the day in court. A cool, mostly quiet courtroom where she can sit and think for hours on end, her thoughts drowning out the monotonous lawyer's chatter, is not all that bad. If only the seats were comfortable she would be quite content. That morning Hunter had been helpful and attentive, even loving at moments, but he had not made any reassurances of commitment to her. Or to the baby, for that matter. Their short relationship already fells strained, and she is struggling with the concept of being pregnant. She has longed to be a mother her whole life, and now that it is happening, she resents the pregnancy for disturbing their relationship. At the same time the unconditional love a mother has for her child settled into her heart the moment she discovered she was pregnant. The whole mess makes her dizzy. She is pretty sure that Hunter is resenting the pregnancy as well, but if push comes to shove this baby is a part of her and she will defend and protect it every step of the way.

She stops by Parker Center that afternoon to catch up on everything she missed while in court. Hunter seems to be away from his desk, but she eyes a small vase of flowers as she approaches hers. A bud vase filled with baby's breath and three pink carnations is perched in the center of her desk. She slips the small envelop from underneath the arrangement and pulls out the card. "I signed up for us" is scribbled across the white card in Hunter's handwriting.

"Hiya. How'd it go today?" McCall is still standing next to her desk reading the card over and over again when Hunter walks up behind her. She looks up at him with watery eyes, saying everything he needs to know without actually saying a word. He nods his head in understanding and walks around to his chair, pulling on his jacket. "Let's get outta here. Are you hungry?"

She laughs and smiles, and he realizes it is the first time she has smiled in at least a week. "Starved."

He raises his eyebrows in surprise. Finally a glimmer of hope – his McCall is still in there somewhere. "Well, alright then, let's go."

As they enter the elevator, out of earshot of nosey co-workers, she adds, "But I'm not in the mood for a restaurant. Let's go home." And he immediately wonders if the security camera in the elevator actually works.

They barely make it through her front door before they start undressing each other, leaving articles of clothing through the house on the way to her bedroom. Collapsing on her bed together and desperate, he breathes against her cheek, "Now, I need to be in you, now." She frantically reaches between them to undo his pants. He manages to get his pants off, while she slips out of her underwear, and he breaches her before he has even made it back onto the bed, her skirt still bunched up around her waist. He searches for just the right angle that he knows works best for her, and her sudden, quick gasp tells him he's found it. "I need you to come for me, fast. I need it to be fast," he growls in her ear and she arches her neck back as the first waves begin. The very moment he feels her pulsing around him, he makes two more hard thrusts and joins her.

When he is finally able to catch his breath, with his face pressed against her jaw, he murmurs, "So I guess you're feeling better?"

Giggling, she responds, "Yes, I am feeling better. At least for now."

"I promise, later, I will do this better. Take my time."

"Mmm," she laughs, "the desperation was pretty sexy." He can feel her smile. "And apparently I needed that as much as you did."

This time pulls himself up onto his elbows to look at her with laughter in his eyes, "That was pretty fast there, honey."

He kisses her sweetly, and she giggles against his lips, "I've missed you."

"Me, too."

She returns to the bed, after cleaning up in the bathroom, where Hunter is spread out across her bed diagonally. He barely fits in her queen size bed, his toes dangle off during the night. He's thinking about how they need to remedy this in the near future as she crawls onto the bed. Curling up against his side, he notices a distinct change in her mood. "You okay?" he asks, turning toward her and wrapping his arms around her.

"Yeah, I'm just thinking about how fast everything is changing. I mean, we barely got a chance to get used to us, but I already miss it. I'm leaving Homicide soon; I won't be your partner anymore; we're having a baby. It's just all happening so fast and I can't do anything to stop it or slow it down, you know?"

"Yeah, I know. But we will figure it out. Together."

She nods her head, her hair tickling his chin. "The flowers were nice, thank you."

Their conversation that morning has tugged at his heart all day. "Why would you ever think I would walk away from you and our child?"

"All this, I know it's not something you particularly want. And with me being so tired and sick all the time, well, I don't want to feel like an obligation to you."

"You are not an obligation." He isn't excited about the pregnancy, no, but neither is he itching to run away. He has remained secretive about his emotions, not wanting to hurt her feelings or alienate himself from her, but he never imagined she would translate that to unhappiness. "Having kids was never something I yearned for, and I worry about how I can be a good father and a cop at the same time. My life just doesn't seem family friendly, you know. I don't feel the immediate connection to the baby that you do, it still feels very…I don't know. Abstract? But it would not be true to say that I don't want this baby. I'm just, well, I'm scared."

She nods her head, "Me, too." He runs his hand down her hair in a comforting gesture.

"There's going to be a little kid that calls me dad," he smiles a little and pulls her closer to him, "and I think that is something pretty special."

She wraps her arm around him and hugs him back for a moment. "Pink carnations? You're already hedging your bet that it's a girl?"

"What? Oh, I didn't think about that. I got pink flowers because it's your favorite color."

"Hmm, funny, I never actually remember telling you that."

"Uh, you didn't have to," he chuckles, "pink coffee cups, pink robes, pink nails. I look at you and think pink, my dear." He rubs his chin against the top of her head, "a little girl that looks just like you, though, will probably be my undoing." She squeezes him tight again. Running his hand down her side, his thumb caressing her still flat belly, he asks, "How much longer before you start showing?" In a way they have been largely ignoring the fact they will not be able to hide their relationship much longer, her body is going to give them away sooner or later.

"A few more weeks, at least." Her fingers begin to gently play and tickle his chest hair, an action he's come to recognize indicates that she has something on her mind. He patiently waits to find out what. "I'm going to get fat."

He laughs, "Might be kind of cute."

But she pulls back until she can see his face, her expression is worrisome and her nose scrunched up. "You think?"

"You know what I think?" he says as he lightly pinches her chin. "I think you and I have never been on a date. We are living together…_sleeping together_…having a baby, but I have never taken you out on an actual date."

"Wow, I'm quite the slut, aren't I?" she says with humor in her voice.

"Oh, yes, so slutty," he mocks her and she laughs, a true, heart-felt laugh. Watching her face light up and her eyes sparkle stirs things within him that he has never felt before and he realizes for the first time that he is truly, head-over-heels in love with her. He has loved and cared deeply for her, she is the best friend he has ever had, but he is now certain that he is _in_ love with her and he wants to spend the rest of his life making her laugh. "Come on, let's get dressed and go have some fun."

"I'd like that."

X-X-X-X

"So today's the day. You sure you're ready?" McCall looks up at him, one eyebrow raised, and a mischievous smile on her lips.

He takes her left hand in his, studying her shimmering engagement ring as if he's seeing it for the first time. "Oh, I'm ready." The elevators open up and they step out together into the Homicide squad room. "So how are you planning on telling everyone?"

"I'm just going to wait and see who notices," she says looking straight ahead at the mass of people, the mischievous smile still there.

He had proposed weeks ago, on a quiet Saturday night over a dinner he had prepared while she napped on his sofa. It was low key, just as he wanted. The following week, promotions had been announced, and Hunter was now a Lieutenant. McCall, though, was still holding out for a position in juvenile to open up. Secrecy had become imperative now that Hunter was technically her superior. With her belly getting bigger every day, as well her chest and her cheeks, and they cannot keep things a secret much longer.

Her transfer into juvenile finally came through, more than four months after she had returned to the Department and requested a different post, and the official announcement had been made yesterday. Today is her last day in Homicide, and they decided it was time to let the cat out of the bag. Especially since the wedding invitations are being mailed soon. Today marks the first time her one-carat solitaire ring has ventured beyond the confines of her home, except for a quick trip to the grocery store that Hunter does not know about – she just hadn't wanted to take it off and gambled that she would not run into anyone she knew.

Mid-morning and the Homicide crew is so overwhelmed with a suspicious house fire that had claimed four-victims early that morning, that McCall's ring has gone completely unnoticed, even by its wearer. She and Hunter are looking over a computer print-out at Hunter's new desk, across the room from the desks they had shared as partners. It's located in a prime spot against the windows. Leaning across his desk to point out a name, she braces herself with her left hand flat in the middle of a small pile of files. Neither of them look up when Officer Brantley, a pretty young cop that reminded McCall a lot of herself, deposits another stack of files on his desk until she blurts out, "Oh my God, McCall! What is that?!"

They both jump at first, darting their eyes to her ring like they had been caught. McCall's face breaks into a huge smile, winking at Hunter before turning around and holding her hand out. Officer Brantley takes her hand gawking at the ring.

"I didn't even know you were dating anybody! When did this happen?" McCall is about to answer when she notices a few other officers were slowly heading their way toward them, and several of the detectives are blatantly staring.

"Really? You don't know?" McCall asks, surprised that she did not have at least a suspicion of her and Hunter.

By now, three others have made their way to McCall and are admiring the ring. "Who's the lucky guy?" someone asks. McCall looks back at Hunter, who is sitting back in his chair enjoying watching her squirm, her plan taking on a life she never intended. In the midst of the mob forming around her, words of congratulations and appreciation are floating around her head.

"Come on! Tell us!" a voice yells from the other side of the room.

"Yeah, McCall, tell us. Who is this mystery man?" Hunter goads her, but she's laughing so hard she can barely catch her breath.

"And you guys call yourselves detectives?" She questions between giggles. Pulling her hand away, she slowly walks around Hunter's desk, takes his head in her hands and plants a kiss square on his lips. His initial shock turns to playfulness, hearing the cheers and whistles from the crowd, and he pulls her closer.

"About time!" they hear Charlie yell over the din, their laughter breaking the kiss.

_The end._

_Thank you for reading!_


End file.
